Teen follies

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM
Thu Dec 14 22:55:02 UTC 2006


"Beat (all) hollow" has been part of  my ordinary vocabulary since childhood.  Its earliest known appearance was before the Revolution, though other verbs with "hollow" go back many decades earlier:

  1759 James Townley _High Life Below Stairs_ (London: J. Newbery et al.) 12: They lost every Match...._Crab_ was beat hollow, _Careless_ threw his rider.

  (BTW, this beats OED by nearly thirty years for "beat hollow.")

  Origin unclear.

  JL


"Emily G. Cunningham" <egcunningham at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Emily G. Cunningham"
Subject: Re: Teen follies
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I'm sorry to interrupt this thread with a non sequitur, but I'd never heard
the phrase "beat all hollow" before. What is its origin? What does it mean?
(besides "thoroughly beat", I presume...)

Thanks!
Emily Cunningham
Law Librarian & Dialect Hobbyist
Houston, TX

On 12/14/06, Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: "Arnold M. Zwicky"
> Subject: Re: Teen follies
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Dec 14, 2006, at 11:50 AM, Beverly Flanigan wrote:
>
> > Don't forget to share the award with NPR.
> >
> > At 12:35 PM 12/14/2006, you wrote:
>
> >> ... we're thinking of
> >> giving [BBC News] some kind of award for their reporting on
> >> language issues.
>
> oh, BBC News has NPR beat all hollow in *news reporting*.
>
> arnold
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
Emily G. Cunningham
egcunningham at gmail.com
214.392.5114

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