A triviality

[Wilson Gray]

That reminds me of another example of apparent confusion. "Fuck
someone over" is not the same as "fuck over someone." Likewise, "No
shit, there I was" is not the same as "This is no shit." It is the
case, though, that, in my experience, at least, any kind of
autobiographical tale can be referred to as a "war / sea story." That
is, I'd buy, "This is no shit. There I was ..." as an example of
"Every war story starts the same way," regardless of whether the
following story was about a fire fight in Iraq or about a playground
fight in Podunk.

-Wilson

On 2/22/07, Mark A. Mandel <mamandel at ldc.upenn.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mark A. Mandel" <mamandel at LDC.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: A triviality
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Wilson wrote:
>
>      >>>>>
>
> [...]
> So, for the hell of it, I Google-Booksed "this is no shit." And,
> wonder of wonders, it turns out that not only do all war stories in
> general start with the words, "This is no  shit," but also so do all
> *sea* stories! Author after author says so or does so. Hence, it turns
> out that both interpretations are true.
>
>   <<<<<
>
> I've seen it (and used it) as "No shit, there I was."
>
> And I sort of have a feeling that I have seen it used that way in Steven
> Brust's Vlad Taltos novels (http://cracksandshards.com/,
> http://dragaera.wikia.com/) but I can't be more precise without checking the
> sources.
>
> -- Mark
> [This text prepared with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.]
>
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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Sam'l Clemens

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