Brainchild

[Jonathan Lighter]

Naw, just of "genius" and "genius responsible."

  Not "creation of some genius."  That would be weird!

  JL

Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Wilson Gray
Subject: Re: Brainchild
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"Mastermind" a _synonym_ of *any* kind of "brainchild"?! Aaarrgghhh!!!
No! Please! Stop the pain!

-Wilson, lexicon still stuck in the 'Forties

On 2/1/08, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
> Subject: Re: Brainchild
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Thanks, Ben. "Mastermind" is an excellent synonym: note that it too originally designated a brilliant intellect (1692). Am pretty sure I still use it that way in addition to the narrower sense.
>
> Am also glad to learn that history has vindicated my inclusion of "brainchild" in HDAS on the basis of a single citation.
>
> That's how I planned it. Heh.
>
> JL
>
> Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Benjamin Zimmer
> Subject: Re: Brainchild
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Jan 31, 2008 4:55 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >
> > Damien Hall wrote:
> >
> > > Heard on Fox News Philadelphia last night (30 January):
> > >
> > > 'The brainchild [of the Smart car] is the same guy responsible for Swatch
> > > watches.'
> > >
> > > This seems like a semantic 'reversal' of a type that I think is common but whose
> > > label I don't know, maybe a bit akin to the transitive-intransitive reversal in
> > > "I notice you have a stain on your shirt" -> "I can't wear this shirt; the
> > > stain will notice" (= be noticeable). (A friend of mine says that, and I don't
> > > think she's the only one.)
> > >
> > > Anyway, this 'reversed' sense of 'brainchild' to mean 'person who came up with
> > > the idea' isn't in *OED*. It may be a nonce use - difficult to Google for -
> > > but here it is, FWIW. I'm sure that the concept of the brain as the origin of
> > > ideas, and the concept of 'child prodigy', come into this somewhere too.
> >
> > Not a reversal, I think, just a different sense: "smart person." HDAS cites the Rev.
> > Jesse Jackson's use of this term in 1969.
>
> In the Fox News attestation, one could also posit some semantic
> interference from "mastermind", or perhaps it's simply modeled on "the
> brains (of/behind an undertaking, effort, etc.)". Some similar
> examples:
>
> ----
> http://www.boldinteractive.com/2008/01/31/letting-the-cat-out-of-the-bag/
> So who else is fighting the fat? Only Donna Fontenot (the brainchild
> of this whole operation).
> ----
> http://www.travelandlivingasia.com/asia/worlds_richest_people.htm
> Brit ecological-minded property developer Jeremy Paxton ... is the
> brainchild of an ecologically sustainable development of second homes.
> ----
> http://www.mass.gov/courts/probation/pr100305.html
> Each week, Probation Officer Jeffrey Foote, who is the brainchild of
> PASS [Probation Assisting Successful School], reviews students'
> progress reports and assists students with making up missed
> assignments or completing homework.
> ----
> http://thewhitehawk.com/blogging/who-influenced-me-to-blog/
> That man was none other than Paul Scrivens, best known as Scrivs who
> is the brainchild behind the popular 9rules network.
> ----
> http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2007/06/28_goldberg.shtml
> He was also the brainchild behind last year's "Ballet Mori," an
> eight-minute performance by Muriel Maffre, San Francisco Ballet
> principal dancer, to commemorate the anniversary of the 1906 San
> Francisco earthquake.
> ----
> http://www.lbl.gov/Publications/Currents/Archive/May-18-2007.html
> The brainchild behind these and other creative efforts to help reduce
> accidents at the Lab is Facilities Division Safety Coordinator Janice
> Sexson.
> ----
>
> And many many more, Googleable here:
>
> http://www.google.com/search?q=brainchild-behind
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
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