Whiz & names (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Wilson Gray]

"Do a little dance! Sing a little song! Get down, tonight!" But,
seriously, folks, since some music calls for a particular dance,
sometimes, "Hi, you want to dance this dance?" is at least possible:
"No, thank you. I don't know how to dance the cha-cha-cha. I know only
how to bend over and rub my butt against your crotch as you mime anal
sex with me." [writes Wilson, deep greenish-brown with envy and
wishing that he was under seventeen instead of over seventy.]

-Wilson

On 9/26/07, Dennis R. Preston <preston at msu.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Whiz & names (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> LH,
>
> I do have "do a dance," but it does not have the same range of
> occurrences as "dance" but pretty much that same as "dance a dance."
> Pretty much since I have the following judgments:
>
> Hi; you want to dance (OK)
> Hi; you want to dance this dance (bad)
> Hi; you want to dance this next dance (OK)
> Hi you want to do this dance (awful, unless I am inviting someone to perform)
> Hi; You want to do this next dance (???, probably no good)
>
> dInIs
>
> >--------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> >Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >Poster:       Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> >Subject:      Re: Whiz & names (UNCLASSIFIED)
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >"Your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream
> >dreams" (Acts 2:17; Joel 2:28). I wonder if the phrasing in the King
> >James Bible has canonized (so to speak) the locution "dream + dream."
> >
> >--Charlie
> >____________________________________________________________
> >
> >---- Original message ----
> >>Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2007 11:23:53 -0400
> >>From: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> >
> >>
> >>At 7:10 AM -0400 9/26/07, Dennis Preston wrote:
> >
> >>>
> >>>Notice, for example, how the historical verb "dream" becomes a
> >>>noun and then disqualifies itself by redundancy in "dream a dream"
> >>>(although "dream a very pleasant dream" or any other interruptive
> >>>seems to make cognate verb-object constructions OK).
> >
> >>
> >>I wouldn't be so hasty with this claim.  "I dreamed a dream" alone
> >>has 165,000 ghits; I looked it up because I know at least two songs
> >>containing that line.  While many of these hits reference one or
> >>another such song lines I would imagine the cognate object
> >>construction is not that hard to find in spoken rather than sung
> >>English.  (There are also many hits for "he dreamed a dream (last
> >>night)" and such.
> >>
> >>>Once "have" steps into this role, then it can be
> >>>used with "nightmare," which has no status as a verb at all.
> >>>
> >>>I'd certainly be interested in seeing a crosslinguistic study of
> >>>these cognate verb-noun constructions. Has there been any work on
> >>>them?
> >>>
> >>>dInIs
> >>>
> >>>PS: I know Wilson, you can "walk the walk" and "talk the talk," so
> >>>don't give (make) that speech.
> >>>
> >>>PPS: Notice how "sing the song" is OK because of the phonetic dissimilarity.
> >>>
> >>
> >>There's also "danced a dance"--faute de mieux, since we don't have
> >>"do/make/have a dance".  These redundancies are in general much
> >>better than, say,
> >>
> >>*She is eyed (vs. {blue/brown/green}-eyed)
> >>*an eyed man (vs. a one-eyed/brown-eyed man)
> >>*He is haired
> >>etc.
> >>
> >>--where the unmodified form is not only predictable but ungrammatical.
> >>
> >>
> >>LH
> >
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>
>
> --
> 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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--
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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