Contemporary slang bites the big one

[Wilson Gray]

Originally, it had to do with the sentence, "Our main computer bit the big
one," from an e-mail that I received from my sixteen-year-old niece. At
first, I had no idea what she meant, because I knew the phrase only from my
Army days, which ended in the early '60's. In the military, the phrase was
used _only in the present and it defined an inherent property_, as in,
"Burn-bag detail bites the big one." Saying, "Burn-bag detail _bit_ the big
one" would have been like saying, "Water _was_
wet." Burn-bag detail always bites the big one and water is always wet.
Resorting to HDAS allowed me to realize that said niece was probably
eggcorning on "bites the dust." "Our main computer bit the dust" makes
perfect sense to me.

"Bite bit" came up when people wondered whether sentences like the examples
would also have posed a problem for me. No, they wouldn't have, except in a
case like, "Reality bit," given that reality bites, as was so eloquently
spelled out in the movie of that title.

-Wilson

On 5/16/06, James Smith <jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       James Smith <jsmithjamessmith at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Contemporary slang bites the big one
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Just for clarification, is the subject here the use of
> "bit" as opposed to "bites"?.  The latter is common in
> these types of phrases: TTBOMK, "bites" has been in
> such usage since at least the 60s.  The 1978 quote
> sounds very natural to me, speaking of a past event
> that would have been described with "bites" at the
> time it happened.
>
> --- Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM> wrote:
>
> > On Sat, May 13, 2006 at 06:30:54PM -0400, Benjamin
> > Zimmer wrote:
> > > On 5/13/06, Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com>
> > wrote:
> > > >
> > > >On Sat, May 13, 2006 at 05:58:47PM -0400,
> > Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
> > > >>  *That really bit.
> > > >
> > > >This is non-asterisked in my idiolect.
> > >
> > > Well, perhaps it deserves a question mark if not
> > an asterisk. I see
> > > HDAS has a relevant cite from 1978 ("Door-to-door
> > really bit on a cold
> > > day").
> >
> > Here are two more from our files:
> >
> > 1998 Time Out N.Y. 31 Dec. 86/1 I'm told the book on
> > which it
> > was based, _A Prayer for Owen Meany,_ was quite
> > good. Well, the
> > movie bit. I cut out early.
> >
> > 2002 Washington Post (Home ed.) 18 Jan. C8/2 Your
> > attitude..was, and is, brilliant, clap clap clap.
> > But your
> > delivery totally bit.
> >
> > Jesse Sheidlower
> > OED
> >
> >
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>
> James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
> South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
> jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
>                                |or slowly and cautiously.
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