on the bug

[Jonathan Lighter]

Not only have I ever encountered "on the bug" anywhere else, the author is not given to use much slang, especially not esoteric expressions.  Most of the "on the" phrases are connected with crime, BTW : "on the lam," e.g.

If the typo appeared in the first edition, it may never have been caught subsequently.

Jon

Grant Barrett <gbarrett at WORLDNEWYORK.ORG> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Grant Barrett
Subject: Re: on the bug
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On Jul 7, 2005, at 21:11, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> Maybe he just sells tickets to likely prospects "on the bus."

This is possible, but the versions from three publishers in Amazon
full-text say "sells tickets on the bug." I'm reluctant to pay for a
digital study guide to see if this phrase is addressed. I didn't find
any lit-crit about it at JSTOR or MUSE.

I also thought "bug" might oughta have been "Bug," a place, but if
so, there are no other references to it in the novel.

Grant Barrett
gbarrett at worldnewyork.org


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