"snubbing your nose"

[James Smith]

What am I missing here.  I've used this expression,
and heard others use it, all my life (61 years).

--- James Harbeck <jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA> wrote:

> >Fox News reporter, just now:
> >
> >   "The judge said that Hilton essentially was
> snubbing her nose at
> >the judicial system."
> >
> >   Less painful than stubbing but more senseless
> than thumbing.
>
> I've heard and seen this one every so often. It's
> becoming
> increasingly common, I think. Google results for
> assorted variations:
>
> "snubbing her nose": 506
> "snubbing his nose": 1580
> "snubbing their nose": 846
> "snubbing their noses": 2990
> "snubbing my nose": 1030
> "snubbing your nose": 741
> "snubbing your noses": 66
> "snub her nose": 765
> "snub his nose": 2200
> "snub their nose": 940
> "snub their noses": 995
> "snub my nose": 5260
> "snub your nose": 3650
> "snub your noses": 166
>
> Interesting distribution there: "her" is definitely
> pulling up the
> rear, and "my" and "your" are stronger with "snub"
> while "their" is
> with "snubbing". I'm sure there are some interesting
> factors behind
> that... hmmm... At any rate, a glance at the results
> indicates that
> in general they are meaning "thumb (X's) nose".
>
> I don't find "snub (X's) nose(s)" in the Eggcorn
> Database, but I
> think it might count as an eggcorn, since, though
> it's a little
> phonetically farther from "thumb" than the usual
> eggcorn would be
> from its source -- suggesting more of a
> misrecollection than a
> mishearing -- it is a reanalysis on the basis of
> what seems sensible
> (nobody thumbs their nose anymore, it seems,
> although it was common
> enough when I was a kid, but "snub nose" is a known
> collocation, and
> there is clear influence from the normal use of the
> verb "snub" --
> which would in most cases work just fine in these
> contexts without
> the nose -- and probably a bit of influence from
> "snob" too), and the
> phonetic details are similar enough to allow for
> substitution in
> recollection (voiceless fricative, bilabial nasal,
> mid central
> vowel). Or if I'm running too far with the eggcorn
> label, I'm sure
> Arnold Zwicky will tell me, and we'll just toss it
> in the malapropism
> bin.
>
> James Harbeck.
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society -
> http://www.americandialect.org
>


James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
                               |or slowly and cautiously.



____________________________________________________________________________________
Looking for earth-friendly autos?
Browse Top Cars by "Green Rating" at Yahoo! Autos' Green Center.
http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/

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