Heard on "Today on NBC"

[Wilson Gray]

Well played, Jon!

-Wilson


On Nov 29, 2007 5:42 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Heard on "Today on NBC"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> To "Recall Correctly." IIRC.
>
>   JL
>
> Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Re: Heard on "Today on NBC"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> What does it mean "to RC"?
>
> -Wilson
>
> On Nov 29, 2007 10:29 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: Jonathan Lighter
> > Subject: Re: Heard on "Today on NBC"
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > IIRC, to _lay dead_ has long had an AAVE sense of "to lie low." I associate it with the '60s or early '70s. If it isn't in HDAS, it's because I didn't think it was slangy enough.
> >
> > Or else because I don't RC.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > Wilson Gray wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: Wilson Gray
> > 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
> >
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>
>
> --
> 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
>
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--
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

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