Foot, or hoof, and mouth

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:12 PM -0400 5/13/05, Wilson Gray wrote:
>FWIW. I've always, i.e. for the past sixty years or so, referred to
>this disease as "foot-and-mouth disease" because that was what it was
>called when I first heard of it. This form was reinforced by the pun,
>"foot-in-mouth disease."

Ah, that's what I was calling a disingenuous reanalysis.  "Pun" is
really a much more elegant label.

>I've never lived in or even visited for more
>than a few hours any other English-speaking country. Suddenly, from my
>point of view, "foot" was replaced by "hoof," for reasons unknown. In
>like manner, a couple of weeks ago, a local newspaper made reference to
>"leprosy, formerly known as 'Hansen's disease,'" in an article about
>the closing of a leprosarium. It used to be, "Hansen's disease,
>formerly known as 'leprosy'." Didn't it?

Maybe that was short for "leprosy, formerly known as 'Hansen's
disease, formerly known as leprosy'".

Larry