"Like" abuse redivivus/ to "be all"

[Benjamin Lukoff]

On Sun, Apr 13, 2008 at 9:37 PM, Arnold M. Zwicky
<zwicky at csli.stanford.edu> wrote:
>
>  On Apr 13, 2008, at 5:55 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>
>  > Phrases of the type, "how big of a dog," as well as "this/that big of
>  > a dog," are hardly new. It's common in every variety of BE that I've
>  > ever heard, since I was a child in Texas.
>
>  i didn't fuckin claim it was new.  i have, in fact, published about
>  some of its history, as well as its analysis.  see the discussion in
>  my 1995 paper:
>
>    http://www.stanford.edu/~zwicky/exceptional-degree-markers.pdf
>
>  i have mentioned the phenomenon, and my research, and the literature
>  on it (which goes back at least 25 years) many times on ADS-L over the
>  years.  and on Language Log.  (i have more postings in preparation --
>  mostly in response to the Safire piece, which is inaccurate in any
>  number of ways).
>
>  but i begin to despair of talking about phenomena here.  apparently
>  all history disappears once the week is over, so that people start a
>  discussion of a phenomenon as if no one had ever talked about it
>  before (here or anywhere), so i too am apparently supposed to start
>  again from zero and say everything i said before all over again.  i'm
>  not sure i can function as a scholar and expositor in such an
>  environment.

I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that, while this does seem to be a
slight bit of overreaction, your presence on the ADS list would be
missed, and I do hope you continue to read and post.

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