taking the slaw (was Re: SUX)

[Dennis R. Preston]

Of course I meant to suggest only that "take" would acquire this
semantic complexity given sufficient context, but, once such a
context-related association is formed, the item seems to me to be
"readier" for that interpretation. If this were not true, lots of
innuendo would be out the window.

dInIs

PS: I'll strop writing so early; rhyming urges like that seldom come my way.

>On Sep 27, 2004, at 3:11 PM, Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>
>>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.
>
>but "between the sheets" supplies some (slightly) racy content.  is the
>verb "take" sufficient to suggest fellatio?  "take the lettuce"?  "take
>the coffeepot"?  "take the amnesia"?  "take the mynah bird"?  "take the
>semicolon"?
>
>"take it" can work in context, but without, um, explicit information it
>doesn't distinguish oral from anal (or possibly even manual) reception.
>
>"take the carrot" might make some sense, but the google cites seem to
>be about real carrots or about metaphorical carrots and sticks.  there
>is the suggestive
>-----
>Gobi lowered his huge head and mouth down toward the little boy's hand
>in order  to take the carrot, but the little boy let go of the carrot
>before Gobi could ...
>  www.all-animals.com/bcamels.html
>-----
>but this is about a camel and an actual root vegetable.
>
>plenty of sex acts for "take the zucchini", but they all seem to
>involve actual cucurbits.
>
>arnold, who's taken about as much of this as he can


--
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