weedeat
Sarah Lang
slang at UCHICAGO.EDU
Tue Jul 3 22:05:44 UTC 2007
In Alberta we weedwhack or whippersnip/snap? with the weedwhacker or
whippersnipper. But I suppose if I were using The Weedeater, I could
have Weedated.
S.
On Jul 3, 2007, at 10:19 AM, John M. Spartz wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: "John M. Spartz" <jspartz at PURDUE.EDU>
> Subject: Re: weedeat
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
>
> 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>:
>
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>> 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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>>
>> --
>> American justice: When Paris does more time than Scooter
>>
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