Ahh, Shoot!
Joel S. Berson
Berson at ATT.NET
Sun Nov 30 00:13:21 UTC 2008
At 11/29/2008 02:05 PM, Doug Harris wrote:
>Something I've heard frighteningly frequently of late is what you
>might call a mix-mastered metaphor -- one given such a shake or stir
>that sense ends up sorely abused: "far and few between."
>So far, unfortunately, I haven't heard it in a situation where I
>could comfortably ask the speaker precisely what s/he means by that phrase.
Perhaps "nearly the last gas station for the next many miles"? (As
one in Watertown, about 3/4 of a mile from the border, famously says,
"Last gas before Cambridge.")
Joel
------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
More information about the Ads-l
mailing list