strum up support

[Laurence Horn]

At 9:28 AM -0500 2/17/08, Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>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

Naah, it bums me up, so I'm just gonna mum up.

LH

P.S.  There are some extensive treatments of "up" as a completive
particle in various uses to be found in the productions emanating
from the left coast "cognitive linguistics" school.

>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>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
>>>
>>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>>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
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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