the meaning of ''developed from''

[Dennis R. Preston]

"Spork" is certainly my favorite.

dInIs



>At 1:51 PM -0400 4/25/05, RonButters at AOL.COM wrote:
>>In a message dated 4/25/05 12:02:40 PM, wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM writes:
>>
>>>
>>>  The existence or nonexistence of "go frig " is irrelevant here.  As for the
>>>  masturbatory sense of "frig," I recommend a look at HDAS.
>>>
>>
>>I did, and it confirmed my intuition that FUCK is much more widely known than
>>FRIG in any sense, whether masturbatory, trifling, or as a euphemism for
>>FUCK. It does not seem "logical" at all that a well-known and
>>widespread insult as
>>(GO) FUCK YOU(RSELF) would have "developed from" one that is, at best,
>>little-known, narrowlly distirbuted historically and culturally, and
>>in itself best
>>known as a euphemism for the very form it has supposedly evolved into.
>
>As already note, I am in complete agreement with this position,
>whether or not a calque of "Va (te) faire foutre" was involved.  But
>now that I (re)think of it, it's not entirely clear that fucking
>oneself really is an anatomically impossibility, assuming external
>objects may be invoked for the purpose.  The suggestion then amounts
>to something along the lines of "Go fuck yourself with the aid of an
>unpleasant if not downright painful object of your worst enemy's
>choosing".
>
>To support this analysis, I note that there are 99 google hits for
>"fuck yourself with a rusty", with various head nouns suggested for
>the operation.  The first ten hits range over "chainsaw", "knife",
>"spoon", "hacksaw", "boat anchor", "iron pole", "axe", "nail", and
>"spork".
>
>L


--
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