The earth v. Earth (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Dennis R. Preston]

Thanks Michael; my own favorite is "the epizootic," although DARE
shows it is not at all limited to the South Midlands.

There are some very interesting low-level constraints going on here.
Note how bad (I think) "I had two colds last year" is compared to "I
had two really very bad colds last year." But that "distance" metric
applies to lots of agreement features.

Is any illness/disease name an ordinary count noun?

My daughter caught three _____ last year.

I nearly died from two _____ last year.

dInIs

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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Montgomery Michael <ullans at YAHOO.COM>
>Subject:      Re: The earth v. Earth (UNCLASSIFIED)
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>
>In the South Midland names of diseases and illnesses
>are often preceded by the definite article.  "The
>cancer" is certainly known, but I think "the sugar" =
>"diabetes" would be far more common.  My favorites are
>"the hippoes" and "the mulligrubs."  I've also heard
>"the typhoid," etc.  "The measles" is ubiquitous, but
>I suspect this may have a much broader regional
>distribution.  We eagerly await DARE V for a
>splendiferous display of definite article usage.
>
>"The" with diseases is definitely a Scotch-Irish
>inheritance.  Check out _the_ def. art. sense 4 in the
>Scottish National Dictionary.  This can be found
>on-line at the wonderful Dictionary of the Scots
>Language website, which incorporates both the SND and
>the Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue.  This
>philological resource that approaches the magnitude of
>the OED is available free at www.dsl.ac.uk.  I don't
>think that it has gotten enough publicity on this side
>of the water, though, so I'm blowing the bugle to
>consult it, if ADSers will pardon me.
>
>Michael
>
>
>--- Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
>
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>>  Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>>  Subject:      Re: The earth v. Earth (UNCLASSIFIED)
>>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  At 10:28 AM -0500 8/8/07, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
>>  wrote:
>>  >Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
>>  >Caveats: NONE
>>  >
>>  >I've heard folks in the rural South referring to
>>  having "the cancer"
>>  >instead of what seems to me to be standard usage
>>  "cancer".
>>
>>  In the urban North it may not be "the cancer" but
>>  it's often "the big C".
>>
>>  LH
>>
>>  >
>>  >>  -----Original Message-----
>>  >>  From: American Dialect Society
>>  >>  [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
>>  Doug Harris
>>  >>  Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2007 9:08 AM
>>  >>  To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>  >>  Subject: Re: The earth v. Earth
>>  >>
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>>  >>  Sender:       American Dialect Society
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>>  >>  Poster:       Doug Harris
>>  <cats22 at FRONTIERNET.NET>
>>  >>  Subject:      Re: The earth v. Earth
>>  >>
>>
>--------------------------------------------------------------
>>  >>  -----------------
>>  >>
>>  >>  On a _much_ smaller scale (but similarly
>>  curious,
>>  >>  language-wise), is the British practice of
>>  referring to
>>  >>  certain countries with the 'the' article
>>  preceding their
>>  >>  name. To wit, The Gambia, The Lebanon.
>>  >>  I believe I know the historic logic for this,
>>  but there was a
>>  >>  similar logic for their use of the 'aeroplane /
>>  aeroport'
>>  >>  spellings, which The Sunday Telegraph (and
>>  others) persisted
>>  >>  in using until at least the 1980's. Wisely,
>>  though, albeit
>>  >>  with much kicking and screaming, I imagine, the
>>  latter paper
>>  >>  seems to have come 'round to using 'airport'
>>  _except_ when
>>  >>  referring to the French versions of places where
>  > aero...
>>  >>  whoops, airplanes land.
>>  >>  (the other) doug
>>  >>
>>  >>
>>  >>
>>  >>  I'm pretty sure - though I wouldn't bet money on
>>  it - that,
>>  >>  back in the '40's and '50's - the earth was
>>  referred to as
>>  >>  "_the_ earth." More recently, it seems to me,
>>  "the earth" has
>>  >>  been replaced by "Earth."
>>  >>  Here's an instance that's neither "the earth"
>>  nor "Earth." It
>>  >>  could be a simple typo, however.
>>  >>
>>  >>  -Wilson
>>  >>
>>  >>
>>
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--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
15C Morrill Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
517-353-4736
preston at msu.edu

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