SUX

[Dennis R. Preston]

We just talked about semantically depleted verbs ('take' in "take a
nap," "a shit," etc...), but aren't there also contextually full
verbs, ones which do not require the object (rather than vice versa),
allowing a speaker, given enough context, to put any concrete noun
into the slot (no pun) - "he was taking the [insert noun of your
choice]." This is surely similar to the childhood game of "between
the sheets" and the like.

dInIs



>On Sep 27, 2004, at 10:39 AM, Bill Mullins wrote:
>
>>Ever heard of someone "taking the slaw" (to fellate)?  That was a new
>>one on
>>me, that a guy I work with used one day.
>
>i have lived (what i think of as) unimaginably far from a sheltered
>life, rich with the experience of fellatio and people talking openly
>and enthusiastically about it, but this is a new one on me (and, it
>seems, on google).  i'd guess it was a novel metaphor, based on the
>shape of pieces of slaw, possibly on the texture or even taste/smell
>("taking/chewing/eating the ika" would be a *really* good metaphor, but
>i don't recall having heard it, more's the pity).
>
>i'm fairly squicked by the fact that pieces of slaw are *sliced*.  not
>a pretty picture.
>
>arnold


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages
A-740 Wells Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
Phone: (517) 432-3099
Fax: (517) 432-2736
preston at msu.edu