uses of "all", a current example

[ladye rudite]

Spotted in my daily comic!

http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/dilbert-20051021.html

V. Wood

>From: Victoria Neufeldt <vneufeldt at MERRIAM-WEBSTER.COM>
>Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Re: uses of "all"
>Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 11:39:07 -0600
>
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Victoria Neufeldt <vneufeldt at MERRIAM-WEBSTER.COM>
>Subject:      Re: uses of "all"
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Surely "all" in "all packed" simply means "completely."  (Just like
>"all" in the preceding examples "all clogged up." "all wrong," and
>"all well again.")   This is a standard usage, as in "I'm all packed
>and ready to go."  Any exasperation has to come from elsewhere in the
>question; specifically, "Don't you see ..."  And "all" in "all
>nicey-nicey" is just an intensifier; the scorn, exasperation, or
>whatever, lies in "nicey-nicey."
>
>I agree with you, Jonathan, that nuances are often impossible to
>explain in a dictionary.  For one thing, any truly complete
>explanation would often have to be so long that nobody would
>understand it or even care by the time they got to the end.  Probably
>the best way to deal with such subtleties of language in a dictionary
>is by gathering a number of closely related usages under a general
>explanation and then choosing good example phrases or sentences.
>
>Victoria
>
>Victoria Neufeldt
>727 9th Street East
>Saskatoon, Sask.
>S7H 0M6
>Canada
>Tel: 306-955-8910
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society
> > [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
> > Of Jonathan Lighter
> > Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2005 7:45 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Re: uses of "all"
> >
> >
> > Barbara, your semantic analysis resembles and complements
> > mine.  I believe that I use all these nuances in speech,
> > including the "exasperative."
> >
> > It may be impossible for any dictionary to notice such nice
> > distinctions, especially diachronically.  But a reader's
> > natural loss of sensitivity to such nuances is one of the
> > factors that make older texts harder and harder to read as
> > one goes back in time.
> >
> > JL
> >
><SNIP>
> > Poster: Barbara H Hudson
> > Subject: uses of "all"
><SNIP>
> > (Other examples from later works includeded: all nice and neat, all
> > screwed up, all clogged up, all creaky, all wrong, all well
> > again, and
> > all shriveled up")
> >
> > But I found that "all" was also used to emphasize feelings of
> > exasperation, indignation or scorn. All of these examples come from
> > later works:
> >
> > Don't you see her bags all packed over there near you?
> > (Marshall, Praisesong 22)
> >
> > The short stocky fellow with the hair to his navel is all
> > grinning. (Walker Everyday use 2369-23-70)
> >
> > Real bangle bracelets, all on her arm (Bolton 90)
> >
> > So one night be was by my place all drunk up and snoring
> > (Maylor, The Women 58)
> >
> > The girls were all nicey-nicey to each other (Clair 78)
> >
> >
> > Barbara Hill Hudson
> >
> > ______________________________
> > Barbara Hill Hudson
> > Professor Emerita
> > Indiana University of Pennsylvania
> > bhhudson at auxmail.iup.edu

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