Heard on "Today on NBC"

[Dennis R. Preston]

Wilson,

Macabre indeed. You have clearly redefined "Black Humor."

dInIs

>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject:      Heard on "Today on NBC"
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Matt is questioning Magic Johnson on the amount of medicine that the
>latter takes daily to control his HIV. Magic answers that he now takes
>only two medicines a day "because the virus is _layin' dead_ in [his]
>body."
>
>Clearly, Magic means that the virus is _lying dormant_ in his body.
>However, this caught my attention because, in the 'Forties and
>'Fifties in Saint Louis, we used "lay dead" to mean, "laze around the
>house doing nothing in particular."
>
>It may be a bit macabre, but I gotta tell y'all, the mental picture of
>HIV just lazin' around in Magic's bod doin' nothin' in p'ticluh cracks
>me up.
>
>-Wilson
>--
>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
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


--
It should be the chief aim of a university professor to exhibit
himself [sic] in his own true character - that is, as an ignorant man
thinking, actively utilizing his small share of knowledge. Alfred
North Whitehead

Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1036 USA
Office: (517) 353-4736
Fax: (517) 353-3755

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