"Love muscle"

[Wilson Gray]

I agree. Assuming that my old war-buddy said "-muzzle" every time that
he used the term, which was a lot, in the barracks environment, why did
I hear it as "-muscle," until he corrected me when I tried to use it?
Probably because the first thing that came to mind was "muzzle" as in
"muzzle for a dog," which made no sense. It made more sense to assume
that he was mispronouncing "muscle." In fact, even as I was writing my
original post, I lost track of the point for a couple of seconds,
because "muzzle for a dog" popped into my head, causing me to block on
"muzzle of a hose" or "muzzle of a firearm."

-Wilson

On Feb 17, 2005, at 9:42 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Love muscle"
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> Don't know about "love muzzle," Wilson.  Word is quite unfamiliar to
> me.  The implied ordnance metaphor isn't very apropos, all things
> being considered.
>
>
> JL
>
> Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: "Love muscle"
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> HDAS dates this to at least 1958. I didn't hear it till 1960. However,
> FWIW, my "informant," a white sailor from Camden, NJ, told me that I
> was overcorrecting - or words to that effect. According to him, the
> proper term is "love _muzzle_," which is not in HDAS.
>
> -Wilson Gray
>
>
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