"work construction" 'do construction work'
Douglas G. Wilson
douglas at NB.NET
Wed Dec 31 02:04:51 UTC 2008
> there are plenty of instances of "do N work" (N = volunteer,
> missionary, upholstery, kitchen, plumbing, charity, voiceover,
> inpatient, ...). but none in the "work N" pattern with the
> appropriate meaning, it seems. so, a very specific idiom.
-
There are, I think, other examples of "work N". To my mind right now
come "work sales", "work retail", and "work landscaping". I don't know
the relative frequencies but I'm sure I've heard all of these in the wild.
-- Doug Wilson
------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
More information about the Ads-l
mailing list