mints pie? axe of God? religious tracks? Prints of Wales?

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:15 AM -0700 5/8/05, James Smith wrote:
>I've heard, and possibly used, both "getting on track"
>and "getting untracked".  Both make sense, with
>opposite meanings.  Are you talking of using the
>inappropriate phrase when the opposite meaning is
>meant?

Yes, "getting untracked" (used in the de-slumpification sense) is
precisely the same as getting on track, with the positive meaning.
The problem with that roller coaster headline I cited yesterday is
that both the literal (negative) meaning of "get untracked" and the
figurative (positive) meaning appear to be relevant, but no irony
seems intended.

Larry

>
>
>--- Alice Faber <faber at HASKINS.YALE.EDU> wrote:
>>  RonButters at AOL.COM wrote:
>>  eggcorns.
>>
>>  I've seen so many instances of "getting untracked"
>>  where my Sprachgef¸hl
>>  tells me "getting on track" should be used that I'm
>>  no longer sure what
>>  the original expression is. I've seen elaborate
>>  etymologies of "getting
>>  untracked" that seem too contrived to be correct.
>>  But, of course, I
>>  haven't cared enough to research it.
>>
>>  On "doggy-dog world", I first heard (yes, heard)
>>  this in the mid-80s,
>>  from an undergraduate student of mine in Florida.
>>  The unstressed vowel
>>  in "doggy" was clearly lengthened, so it wasn't
>>  simply a matter of the
>>  /t/ in "eat" being assimilated to the /d/ in "dog".
>>
>>
>>  --
>>
>==============================================================================
>>  Alice Faber
>>  faber at haskins.yale.edu
>>  Haskins Laboratories                            tel:
>>  (203) 865-6163 x258
>>  New Haven, CT 06511 USA                         fax
>>  (203) 865-8963
>>
>
>James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
>South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
>jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
>                                |or slowly and cautiously.
>
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