"Kitchen table "

Charles Doyle cdoyle at UGA.EDU
Tue Sep 12 17:33:08 UTC 2006


Good job, Ben!  There (in 1982) "kitchen table" IS an epithet.

--Charlie
___________________________________________

---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2006 12:59:33 -0400
>From: Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
>Subject: Re: "Kitchen table "
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
___________________________________________

>On 9/12/06, Charles Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
>>
>> Three years prior to that--and surely even earlier--the "kitchen table" typified the site of such anxious family cogitations (though the phrase isn't being used as an epithet):
>>
>> "They [pilots' union reps] are there, day and night, to answer questions and give advice and mutual support to make sure the strike isn't lost at the kitchen table when concerns about the mortgage begin to impinge on feelings of union loyalty." (Washington Post, 26 May 1985)
___________________________________________
>
>Similarly:
>
>1982 _Syracuse Post Standard_ 29 Oct. A9/2 John's fist hit the kitchen table when I told him the state Legislature invaded his privacy by allowing the sale of the list some years ago. You should have been there, Tarky, Mario, Tony and all the rest of you, for a lesson in kitchen table politics.
>
>--Ben Zimmer

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list