strum up support

[Dennis R. Preston]

My silly response actually looked at the semantics. If you drum (or
strum, etc...) up support you do something which causes something to
come about. If you gum up support you do not cause it to come about
but cause it to be sloppy or even derailed (i.e., gummed up).

That's why there's a big gob of "up"s in the dictionary (although
it's a lexical semantics nightmare to separate the semantics of the
particle from the semantics of the verb).

LH, any reflections on this nightmare?

dInIs

>---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       "David A. Daniel" <dad at POKERWIZ.COM>
>Subject:      Re: strum up support
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>That too. (slobber, slobber) I was thinking in terms of "gumming up the
>works". But dentures will do fine.
>DAD
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
>Dennis Preston
>Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2008 11:40 AM
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Re: strum up support
>
>
>Why incompetents? Wouldn't it be people with their dentures out who
>gummed up support?
>
>dInIs
>
>
>
>>
>>Drum up also makes sense, whereas strum up does not. Everyone from military
>>recruiters to snake oil salesmen has been drawing crowds for centuries by
>>running around town beating on drums. That's why the expression "to drum
>up"
>>has been around for a couple centuries at least and why "strum up" is no
>>more than a (perhaps oft-repeated) malaprop, or a phrase used to comedic
>>effect referring to rock bands and such. On the other hand, I suppose you
>>could imagine a minstrel walking about, strumming up support; or a group of
>>porn stars cumming up support; or a group of idiots dumbing up support; or
>a
>>group of incompetents gumming up support; or an a cappella choir group
>>humming up support; or...
>>DAD
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
>>Dennis Preston
>>Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2008 9:20 PM
>>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>---
>>
>>You must be an anarchist! "Drum up" is traditional, preferred,
>>correct. Not reason enough!
>>
>>dInIs
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>>I was curious what the preferred version might be, so I found the entry
>>>at http://eggcorns.lascribe.net/english/928/strum-up/, where it says
>>>that "drum up" is considered correct.
>>>
>>>I don't think that's enough to make me stop using "strum up," though. Is
>>>there a specific reason why strum up support is dispreferred? It's still
>>>using a musical instrument and it sounds better since it employs
>>>alliteration..
>>>
>>>BB
>>>
>>>Andrea Morrow wrote:
>>>>    >From a CNN article today on Chelsea Clinton's role in the
>>>>presidential campaign:
>>>>
>>>>    Chelsea Clinton will spend three days there to strum up last-minute
>>>>    votes before the state's Tuesday caucuses, said a source from her
>>>>    mother's campaign.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/02/15/chelsea.clinton/index.html?iref=mp
>s
>>toryview
>>>>
>>>>    A quick google search for "strum up support" turns up over a million
>>>>    hits, but most are obvious plays on words (a rock musician strums up
>>>>    support for his show, etc.)
>>>>
>>>>    I see this usage is already in the eggcorn database, but it's the
>>>>    first time I've seen it, and it seemed worth mentioning.
>>>>
>>>
>>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>>
>>--
>>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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>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
>--
>Dennis R. Preston
>University Distinguished Professor
>Department of English
>Morrill Hall 15-C
>Michigan State University
>East Lansing, MI 48864 USA
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
15C Morrill Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
517-353-4736
preston at msu.edu

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org