" Olive, the other reindeer"; was Re: "Trolling" for "Trawling": An Eggcorn?
ronbutters at AOL.COM
ronbutters at AOL.COM
Fri Aug 3 01:02:39 UTC 2007
Dennis,
Whilst thou art mindful of "preserv[ing] such treasures of the tongue" as that which distinguisheth cot & caught, why neglect "lie" versus "lay"?
Or DID you really mean that those shepherds were laying their sheep?
Yr friend,
Coco
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis Preston <preston at MSU.EDU>
Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2007 19:32:14
To:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] " Olive,
the other reindeer"; was Re: "Trolling" for "Trawling": An
Eggcorn?
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
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>>
>>
>>---------------------------------
>>Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha!
>>Play Monopoly Here and Now (it's updated for today's economy) at Yahoo!
>>Games.
>>
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>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>_________________________________________________________________
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>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
--
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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