"don" = to wear; (hence) to bear on the exterior.

[Wilson Gray]

Back in the day, there was a comic-book character named "Merton
McSnurtle the Turtle." He had the ability to remove his shell at will.
When he removed his shell, he became the super-hero, "Mr. Terrific
Whatzit," a swift-moving character that was essentially a parody of
The Flash.

-Wilson

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.
-----
-Mark Twain



On Thu, Nov 27, 2008 at 3:15 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: "don" = to wear; (hence) to bear on the exterior.
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 11/27/2008 11:01 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>This came up a couple of months ago. Here's another ex., from a
>>professionally edited source:
>>
>>Yesterday at http://www.livescience.com/animals/081126-turtle-shell.html:
>>
>>"In an accompanying Nature article, researchers point to an
>>alternative hypothesis for this partially-protected turtle. They
>>suggest even earlier turtles donned a complete upper and lower shell."
>
> But is there not a folk tale of the turtle taking off his shell?  He
> must have put it back on at some time.
>
> Joel
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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