The earth v. Earth (UNCLASSIFIED)

Wed Aug 8 16:57:29 UTC 2007

Hey Dennis

The possibility that comes most immediately to mind is
"fever," which in the mountains/country usually
means/meant specifically "typhoid."  I don't have a
citation to offer, but I think it quite possible to
have sentences like "he nearly died of two fevers when
he was a child," with the meaning of "two
bouts/epidemics of typhoid."

If you're dead keen to explore this further, I'll
contact some local authorities.  When are you off for
your summer consort withthe Lesbosians?

Michael

--- "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society
> <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: The earth v. Earth (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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
>
> >---------------------- Information from the mail
> header
> >-----------------------
> >Sender:       American Dialect Society
> <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >Poster:       Montgomery Michael <ullans at YAHOO.COM>
> >Subject:      Re: The earth v. Earth (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >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:
> >
> >>  ---------------------- 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: 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
> >>  >>
> >>  >>  ---------------------- Information from the
> mail
> >>  header
> >>  >>  -----------------------
> >>  >>  Sender:       American Dialect Society
> >>  <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>  >>  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
> >>  >>
> >>  >>
> >>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
> >>  >>  The American Dialect Society -
> >>  http://www.americandialect.org
> >>  >>
> >>  >Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
> >>  >Caveats: NONE
> >>  >
> >>
>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
> >>  >The American Dialect Society -
> >>  http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
> >>  The American Dialect Society -
> >>  http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>____________________________________________________________________________________
> >Pinpoint customers who are looking for what you
> sell.
> >http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/
> >
>
=== message truncated ===

____________________________________________________________________________________
Pinpoint customers who are looking for what you sell.
http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/

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