Teen follies

[Jonathan Lighter]

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

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