On the nose

Arnold M. Zwicky zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU
Sun Nov 5 19:35:26 UTC 2006


On Nov 5, 2006, at 11:00 AM, Jonathon Green wrote:

> This use of 'on the nose' is indeed Australian and means both
> literally
> stinking and, by extension, morally and aesthetically offensive. There
> are examples of the latter use, which would seem to be that found
> in the
> story, from the 1940s.

ok, you can all stop now.  you are discharged, with deep thanks and
an appreciation for your quick work.

i hope you (so far, John McChesney-Young, Alice Faber, Jon Green,
Jerry Cohen) have sent copies to John Lawler; this information isn't
in the headers i get.

arnold

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list