towing the line, extended

[Dennis R. Preston]

Barbara,

"Tow the line" is fun, but maybe not as much fun as a local Lansing
MI newspaper writer who noted that everybody had their own axe to
gore.

Ah! The Northern Cities Shift even gets to proverbialisms!

dInIs



>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Barbara Need <nee1 at MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU>
>Subject:      towing the line, extended
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>The following showed up in one of the comments shared by Molly Ivins
>fans on the Observer page for her:
>
>>When everyone else was towing the Bush line, she was busy hacking the rope.
>>
>>A day when I could read her comments, was always a day that gave me
>>hope for the country.
>
>An interesting extension from the re(?)spelling of "toeing the line"
>and the reinterpretation of the line as being a rope.
>
>Barbara
>
>Barbara Need
>UChicago
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


--
It should be the chief aim of a university professor to exhibit
himself [sic] in his own true character - that is, as an ignorant man
thinking, actively utilizing his small share of knowledge. Alfred
North Whitehead

Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1036 USA
Office: (517) 353-4736
Fax: (517) 353-3755

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