More stones to un-turn

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:44 AM -0400 8/6/07, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>At 8/6/2007 11:30 AM, Scot LaFaive wrote:
>>"Well Halpern believes there is more to come for the Simpsons. More stone to
>>un-turn in the areas of astronomy, robots, and physics. He even expects
>>movie sequels."
>
>I can understand unturning a stone that when
>turned over had revealed a scandal, crime,
>etc.  But what in the Simpsons about astronomy,
>robots, and physics fits that interpretation?  (I have not seen the movie.)
>
>Joel

Sounds like a pleonastic/redundant un-verb to me
(a la unpeel the orange, unworm the puppy, unthaw
the frozen squid, unloose the dogs of war).  I
don't sense a true reversative here.

LH

>
>>The question is, is she reading this off a teleprompter? I would imagine so.
>>
>>Scot
>>
>>>From: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>>>Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>>Subject: Re: More stones to un-turn
>>>Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2007 11:12:50 -0400
>>>
>>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>-----------------------
>>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>>>Subject:      Re: More stones to un-turn
>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>At 9:30 AM -0500 8/6/07, Scot LaFaive wrote:
>>>>So if there are stones yet to "un-turn," who was the one who had
>>>originally
>>>>turned them? And why didn't they get the secrets out while they had the
>>>>stones up? Very existential, which I'm sure was the speaker's goal when
>>>>saying it.
>>>>
>>>>Scot
>>>
>>>Since I don't seem to be able to open the .wmv
>>>link, can you fill me (and others in the same
>>>fix) on the neighboring context? .
>>>
>>>The handful of google hits on "stones to
>>>un(-)turn" all seem to be using "unturn"
>>>redundantly, so the resultant force is identical
>>>to that of "stones to turn (over)".  Is that
>>>basically what Brockman is doing?  Or does
>>>"un-turn" here mean something more like 'cover
>>>up', or something else?  (If we can
>>>tell--sometimes with Kent Brockman it isn't easy.)
>>>
>>>LH
>>>
>>>>
>>>>>From: Bill Le May <blemay0 at MCHSI.COM>
>>>>>Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>>>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>>>>Subject: More stones to un-turn
>>>>>Date: Sun, 5 Aug 2007 23:15:46 -0500
>>>>>
>>>>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>>>-----------------------
>>>>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>>>Poster:       Bill Le May <blemay0 at MCHSI.COM>
>>>>>Subject:      More stones to un-turn
>>>>>---------------------------------------------
>>>----------------------------------
>>>>>
>>>>>The Simpsons, ever a source of linugistic oddities, prompt this
>>>newsperson
>>>>>to state that there are "more stones to un-turn in the areas of
>>>astronomy,
>>>>>robots, and physics" at approximately 3:20 in this interview.
>>>>>
>>>>>http://www.usip.edu:80/smc/media/cn8_simpsons_070801.wmv
>>>>>
>>>>>It is a very Kent Brockman-esque statement.
>>>>>
>>>>>Bill Le May
>>>>>
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