Whiz & names (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Dennis Preston]

This looks like the "do this dance" form which for me is acceptable
since it fits my "perform" definition. (You want to do this dance, or
don't you know the hully-gully).

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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject:      Re: Whiz & names (UNCLASSIFIED)
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>"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:
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>>  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
>>
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>>  >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
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>>  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.
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--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48864 USA

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