A Pair of Fruits

[Wilson Gray]

So, Ron, your post isn't about the old(?) use of "fruit" to mean
"gay," after all. I was totally faked out by its title.

-Wilson

On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 1:26 PM,  <RonButters at aol.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  Poster:       RonButters at AOL.COM
>  Subject:      A Pair of Fruits
>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  This thread seems to me to be based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the
>  role of chance in everyday life. I went to 3rd grade with someone named
>  "Turnipseed"; what are the "odds" that a "Butters" and a "Turnipseed" would be in
>  the same neighborhood in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1947 (and be the same age)? Duke
>  hired two guys in the English Department in 1966 named "Clum" and
>  "Clubbe"--what are the "odds" that Duke Enlgish in the same year would have acquired two
>  assistant professors whose last names were separated by only one distinctive
>  feature? Low, I suppose, but not particularlty interesting.
>
>  Coincidence abounds--and is generally so unremarkable as not to bear
>  mentioning. Having two fruits on the same reporting staff is unlikely, but not much
>  more surprising than, say, having a "Badger," a "Wolf," and a "Fox."
>
>  In a message dated 2/27/08 12:51:33 PM, thnidu at GMAIL.COM writes:
>
>
>  > Ask on "ANS-L: American Name Society" <ANS-L at listserv.binghamton.edu>.
>  >
>  > m a m
>  >
>  > On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 12:06 AM, Doug Harris <cats22 at frontiernet.net>
>  > wrote:
>  >
>  > > I just happened to notice, on a story from Washington
>  > > in today's NY Times ("Bush Cool to States' Call for
>  > > Public Works Projects," on the lede US page) that that
>  > > newspaper has another fruity reporter in the capital.
>  > > The first, R.W. Apple, is, alas, no longer with us.
>  > > Robert Pear may have been there (in DC, and at the
>  > > Times) for a goodly while, but I just noticed the
>  > > biologic similarity in the names. What are the odds
>  > > of two similarly-based reporters being named after
>  > > (or the same as), say, vegetables?
>  > > dh
>  > >
>  > >
>  >
>  > ------------------------------------------------------------
>  > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>  >
>  >
>
>
>
>
>  **************
>  Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living.
>
>  (http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-duffy/
>  2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)
>
>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens

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