"truth to tell"

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM
Sun Aug 6 21:12:30 UTC 2006


Guess I'll start saying, "if sooth be told."

  That should bug *lots* of people. (Though most will think it's just a glitch in their hearing.)

  JL
"Mark A. Mandel" <mamandel at LDC.UPENN.EDU> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Mark A. Mandel"
Subject: Re: "truth to tell"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

sagehen notes:
>>>

>I don't recall having heard "truth to tell" but if it did morph from "to
>tell the truth" it probably got an analogical boost from "truth be told".
>
~~~~~~~~~~
I'm sure you're right. AND I have the same allergy to "truth be told"!

<<<

Hmm. ?< "If the truth be told"?

m a m

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


 __________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list