FN + LN

[Charles Doyle]

Great datums (and commenta), Larry!

Some comedy show on TV has a running gag in which a Karl Malone impersonator is featured saying foolish things in Dissociative Athletic BoSpeak.

--Charlie
_____________________________________________________________

---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2007 21:31:32 -0400
>From: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>
>At 2:56 PM -0400 5/29/07, Charles Doyle wrote:
>>So says the often accurate _Yale Book of=20
>>Quotations_, and so the major newspapers=20
>>reported in 1962
>>
>>But the "Dick" is frequently inserted into oral=20
>>quotings and paraphrasings (as well as later=20
>>writings and reminiscences)--BECAUSE OF Nixon's=20
>>tendency to refer to himself as "Dick Nixon" (as=20
>>well as just "Nixon") in place of a normal=20
>>second-person pronoun.
>>
>>Without "Dick": 10,000+ Google hits.
>>With "Dick": 3,600+ Google hits.
>>Without "Dick": 78 Proquest newspaper hits.
>>With "Dick" 23 Proquest newspaper hits.
>>
>>--Charlie
>
>Curiously (but not ironically), I did this same=20
>search several years ago, when I was working on a=20
>paper touching on what I called the "Dissociative=20
>Third Person", or "Bobdolisms" for short.  (The=20
>version I gave at the 2002 LSA was called "1=823:=20
>Indexicality, reference, and the asymmetries of=20
>binding".)  Dole's political mentor was, of=20
>course, Nixon, so I ended up tracking down and=20
>finding on the internet a sound bite of the=20
>relevant Nixon speech (from after his loss to Pat=20
>Brown).  Sure enough, it's Dickless, but like=20
>Charlie I had the same sense that we remember it=20
>that way because in general the form of the name=20
>appearing in the Bobdolism is the one by which=20
>the celebrity is usually known (hence Bob Dole,=20
>not Robert).
>
>Most of my examples [see below] came from=20
>athletes' using this "third person" for=20
>themselves (almost always in the form of proper=20
>names, though, not "he", "him", or "his", which=20
>makes "illeism" a less than ideal term),=20
>following the lead of Bo Jackson, who was the=20
>athletes' Nixon/Dole of the third person.  But=20
>here's one not involving a politician or athlete,=20
>just a self-styled celebrity contractor; note the=20
>reference to the "Nixonian third person".
>
>[48]  Chris Clark, a Manhattan contractor,=20
>slipped into the Nixonian third person as he=20
>described his rational for rejecting homeowners=20
>without designers:  "Chris Clark can't sit down=20
>at the kitchen table with Mrs. Jones, who wants=20
>white cabinets, a granite counter and Miele=20
>dishwasher.  The room for dispute is too vast.=20
>Do you know how many white Formicas there=20
>are?"
>(NYT 15 July 1999, F10, "Courting the Contractor")
>
>And here's the actual Nixon quote, direct from the audio.
>
>[49]  Just think how much you're gonna be=20
>missing.  You don't have Nixon to kick around=20
>anymore.   (Richard Nixon, concession speech=20
>after losing California gubernatorial election to=20
>Pat Brown, 7 Nov. 1962; usually recalled as "You=20
>won't have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore")
>=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
>Some cases of the athlete's dissociative third person:
>
>[34]    What's wrong with [Larry] Johnson?=20
>Nothing, he insists.  "People know what L.J. can=20
>do," he said.  "I know what L.J. can do."
>(basketball player Larry Johnson on his offensive=20
>struggles, NYT 22 Nov. 1996, B11)
>
>[35]    Can they [the New Jersey Nets] re-sign=20
>Cassell?  "I have to see what's right for Sam=20
>Cassell," said Cassell, who wants a salary around=20
>$5 million.  "Money is going to be the key."
>(basketball player Sam Cassell on his salary=20
>dispute with the Nets, NYT 22 April 1997)
>
>[36]    Establishing a balance between being the=20
>world's greatest basketball player as well as a=20
>purveyor of cologne, footwear, briefs, and motion=20
>pictures has been a chore at times.  "As you look=20
>at my career, those things haven't defined=20
>Michael Jordan, he said.  "Michael Jordan's=20
>basketball skills defined=20
>him."
>(M.J. on the difficulties of being M.J., NYT 9 Sept. 1997)
>
>[37]     "I just want to win.  The bottom line is=20
>whatever Todd Hundley has do to help this team=20
>win, I'll do."
>(Catcher Todd Hundley's travails in learning to=20
>be an outfielder, NYT 13 July 1998)
>
>[38]a.   "I gave Pittsburgh every opportunity to=20
>sign Neil O'Donnell", O'Donnell=20
>said.
>(Chicago Sun-Times 1 Mar. 1996, p. 110)
>
>b.  O'Donnell, who was benched in the fourth=20
>quarter with the Jets leading, admitted:  "It's a=20
>hard thing.  I'm just doing what Neil O'Donnell=20
>can do.
>(NYT 3 Nov. 1997, on travails of N. Y. Jets quarterback Neil O'Donnell)
>
>[39]  "I'm just going to do the things Derek=20
>Harper has done for 10 years, and hopefully that=20
>will be enough."
>(NYT 8 Jan. 1994, p. 32)
>
>[40]  "I just want to go to a place where Howard=20
>Johnson is going to put up some big numbers."
>(Nov. 1993 radio interview with baseball player=20
>on signing with Colorado Rockies)
>
>[41]   I feel I'm just out there doing the sort of things Lenny Harris can d=
>o.
>(baseball player Lenny Harris in radio interview on WFAN 29 July 2000)
>
>[42]  He said he'd take of me, and it hasn't=20
>happened yet.  I want to be there, but I've got=20
>to look out for Tim Hardaway and Tim Hardaway's=20
>family.
>(basketball player Tim Hardaway, complaining of=20
>his treatment by coach Pat Riley, NYT 29 Aug.=20
>2000, D2)
>=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
>and from Bob Dole's own mouth:
>
>[43]  [Responding to Ted Koppel's query about=20
>whether he intended to stress the character issue=20
>in the campaign]
>"I don't think so," Dole said.  "My view is that=20
>I'm going to talk about Bob Dole, and I've been=20
>doing a little of that."     (ABC "Nightline"=20
>show, March 1996)
>
>[44]  I am very proud to be from Russell, Kansas,=20
>population fifty-five hundred.  My dad went to=20
>work every day for forty-two years and pround of=20
>it, and my mother sold Singer sewing=20
>machines...to try to make ends meet.  Six of us=20
>grew up living in a basement apartment.  That was=20
>Bob Dole's early life, and I'm proud of it,=20
>because we learned a lot about values, about=20
>honesty and decency and responsibility and=20
>integrity and self-reliance and loving your God,=20
>your family, your church, and your community..."
>(Dole speech in Columbus, Ohio, 3/14/96)
>=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
>
>Crucially, the name shows up when the celeb is=20
>viewing himself (I have no examples from women)=20
>from the outside, so we would never hear Dole=20
>saying "That was my early life, and Bob Dole is=20
>proud of it", or "Bob Dole is going to talk about=20
>me", or pausing in the middle of a speech to=20
>murmur "Bob Dole needs to pause a moment to {take=20
>a sip of water/visit the rest room}".  (Except=20
>maybe on the Saturday Night Live parodies of him=20
>that were popular during the 1996 presidential=20
>campaign.)  Finally, here's NYT sports media=20
>reporter Richard Sandomir during the '96 campaign=20
>on this "affliction":
>
>Some strange, grammatical, mind-body affliction=20
>is making some well-known folks in sports and=20
>politics refer to themselves in the third person.=20
>It is as if they have stepped outside their=20
>bodies. Is this detachment? Modesty?=20
>Schizophrenia? If this loopy verbal quirk were=20
>simple egomania, then Louis XIV [sic] might have=20
>said, "L'etat, c'est Lou." (=8A)
>Third Personspeak's greatest sports champion is=20
>Bo Jackson, the former football-baseball star. Bo=20
>knew Bo intimately, but he had a more distant=20
>relationship with "I."  Bo quoted Bo so=20
>frequently that Bo needed another Bo to speak for=20
>Bo. "The key was Bo wants to play baseball," Bo=20
>once said. "I want to see what Bo wants to do.=20
>Let me state a fact: Bo Jackson can play=20
>baseball."
>(--Richard Sandomir, N. Y. Times Week in Review 10 Mar. 1996, p. 2)
>
>
>LH

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