weedeat

[John M. Spartz]

In Minnesota, where I grew up, some of us 'weedeated' and others 'weedwhipped'...

Personally, I 'weedeated' as a kid because the brand of machine we had was a
Weedeater (http://www.poulanpro.com/poulanpro/indexAction.do?id=default).

But, when I got the the University of Minnesota as an undergrad, I 'weedwhipped'
(http://www.facm.umn.edu/safety/Landcare/weedwhip.PDF).

John
__________________________________________
John M. Spartz
jspartz at purdue.edu
English Linguistics
Purdue University


Quoting Paul Johnson <paulzjoh at MTNHOME.COM>:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Paul Johnson <paulzjoh at MTNHOME.COM>
> Subject:      Re: weedeat
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Here in North Central Ar. we weed wack/whack
>
> Charles Doyle wrote:
> > A teenager told me that she and a friend had been doing yard work: "She
> mowed, and I weedeated." Yes, "weedeated" does seem like a better preterit
> than "weedate" (1880 Google hits vs. 105). The OED appears not to have
> "weedeater" or any backformed form (?!).
> >
> > --Charlie
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