Q: Ad nauseum

[Laurence Horn]

At 7:21 AM -0500 4/30/06, Sally Donlon wrote:
>Growing up in South Louisiana (but with a mother from Hoboken, NJ),
>we always used "sick to my stomach" or "sick to his stomach," etc.
>
>As in, " I can't go to school, Mom, because I'm sick to my stomach."
>Or, "She left because she felt sick to her stomach."
>

Same in NYC, c. 1950.  But we said "ad nauseam" rather than "nauseum"  ;-)

LH

>On Apr 30, 2006, at 12:40 AM, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
>
>>>What do nauseated people say WRT their condition?
>>>In the home, I learned to say:
>>>
>>>"I'm sick at the stomach."
>>
>>Supposedly there is regional variation, I think.
>>
>>When I was a young one, in Detroit MI, I usually heard (and used)
>>"sick to
>>one's stomach" (e.g., "I'm sick to my stomach"). However I also
>>heard "sick
>>to the stomach", and also (less frequently) "sick at the/one's
>>stomach",
>>"sick in the/one's stomach", and "sick on the/one's stomach"; I can't
>>remember the detailed breakdown (which preposition usually went
>>with "the"
>>vs. "one's", etc.) or demographics.
>>
>>-- Doug Wilson
>>
>>
>>
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