Having cake . . .

[Benjamin Zimmer]

Well, there's the Unabomber. See my Language Log post:

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002762.html



On 9/24/07, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> My vicarious recollections of the 19th C. tell me that the usual form then was "to eat one's cake and have it." Arguably it's more logical that way.
>
>   Anyhow, I've never heard that version in living use.  Has anyone?
>
>   JL
>
>
> "Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU> wrote:
> On Sep 24, 2007, at 9:48 AM, Charlie Doyle wrote:
>
> > This morning's campus newspaper has a filler item from AP:
> > Residents of a "senior center" in New York State are protesting a
> > recent ban on doughnuts at the facility. In the accompanying
> > picture, beside a demonstrater holding a neatly-printed sign that
> > reads "We're Old Enough to Choose" stands another with a sign
> > inscribed "We Want our Cake and Eat It Too!!" Interesting grammar.
>
> maybe a telescoping of "want to have our cake and eat it too".
> perhaps distantly related to GoToGo ("I'm going right out and buy
> myself a new stepladder" -- Jimmy Stewart's character in Vertigo).
> classic GoToGo has the motion verb GO in the present participle, with
> a direction adverbial, but there are innovative variants with other
> motion verbs and variants without the adverbial. and then Laura
> Staum reported the following on 9/14:
>
> This was so good I almost wasn't sure it was one. Comes from a flyer
> that a local realtor left on our doorstep:
>
> If you are interested in buying or selling and save lots of money...
> I'd love the opportunity to make your dreams come true!
>
> AMZ reply 9/15:
>
> wow. *way* far off the canonical examples. "V-ing and V-base",
> with the first verb not a verb of motion and with the V-ing nominal
> rather than verbal (progressive).
>
> ----
>
> Joel Wallenberg once suggested there might be a tendency towards
> using V-base in second conjuncts -- sort of V-base as a conjunctive
> verb form. there are parallels in many languages.
>
> arnold
>
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