" Olive, the other reindeer"; was Re: "Trolling" for "Trawling": An Eggcorn?

[Dennis Preston]

Once years ago I stood in front of  a used car lot in Calgary
wondering why Otto's Auto's struck me as mildly funny; then I
realized that for almost ahl Canadians they are homophones. (And
nearly everybody west of the Mississippi, nearly everybody in New
England, and a passle of folk in a band through the middle of the US.)

dInIs, who preserves such treasures of the tongue, by virtue of age and region


>--------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
>Subject:      Re: " Olive, the other reindeer"; was Re: "Trolling" for
>               "Trawling": An Eggcorn?
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Attack of the "awe" droppers.  They substitute the sound "ah" for "awe"
>wherever it occurs, and thus "all of" becomes "ah luv" (Olive).  They must
>be stopped.
>
>Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
>See truespel.com - and the 4  truespel books plus "Occasional Poems" at
>authorhouse.com.
>
>
>
>
>
>>From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>>Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>Subject: Re: " Olive,              the other reindeer"; was Re: "Trolling"
>>for "Trawling": An              Eggcorn?
>>Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2007 15:05:05 -0700
>>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>>Subject:      Re: " Olive,              the other reindeer"; was Re:
>>"Trolling"
>>                for "Trawling": An              Eggcorn?
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>This has got to be a joke, not a trfue misunderstanding, as the relevant
>>lines are,
>>
>>    "All of the other reindeer,
>>    Used to laugh and call him names.
>>    THEY wouldn't let poor Rudolph
>>    Play in any reindeer games."
>>
>>    Even if your own name is Olive, and all your female relatives are named
>>Olive, and your favorite character is Olive Oyl, you will understand "all
>>of" as  meaning "all of," at least if your attention span is long enough to
>>get to the operative pronoun.
>>
>>    Though you might pretend otherwise.
>>
>>    JL
>>Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU> wrote:
>>    ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender: American Dialect Society
>>Poster: Charles Doyle
>>Subject: Re: " Olive, the other reindeer"; was Re: "Trolling" for
>>"Trawling": An Eggcorn?
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>Wilson, it's "All of the other reindeer," mumbled by those sad folks bereft
>>of the "open o."
>>
>>--Charlie
>>___________________________________________________________
>>
>>---- Original message ----
>>  >Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2007 17:36:42 -0400
>>  >From: Wilson Gray
>>
>>  >
>>  >Is "Olive, the other reindeer" a mishearing of "Oh, how the other
>>reindeer"? It's the only thing that I can think of that comes close to
>>making sense. Even so, I get the nonsensical "Oh [laiv] the other
>>reindeer"' more easily than "Olive."
>>  >
>>  >-Wilson
>>
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--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48864 USA

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