waxing_____________?

[Alison Murie]

On Apr 19, 2009, at 6:02 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: waxing_____________?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 4:11 PM -0400 4/19/09, Alison Murie wrote:
>> 'But his overall tone is a gentle one, as he tries to demystify his
>> diet by devoting a chapter to "A Day in the Life of a Vegan," in
>> which
>> he characterizes himself as "cooking-challenged," while waxing about
>> the nutty flavor of organic avocadoes.'
>> --from an article in  Salon on Jeffrey Masson.
>>
>> Subtle effort to engage the reader by making him(her) supply the
>> "eloquent" or "poetic" or whatever??
>> AM
>>
> Maybe edited down from "waxing on about", which might have struck
> someone as odd because of the two prepositions in a row?  As it is,
> it conjures up the image of waxed organic avocados, which doesn't
> seem right.  (I don't think organic avocados, or even inorganic Hass
> ones, should really have to put up with that -es plural either--seems
> more appropriate for those awful tasteless oversized "avocadoes" from
> Florida.)
>
> L

> I should admit that I haven't looked this up,but I've always
> asssumed that waxing in this sort of constructiion meant something
> like "becoming" as in the waxing moon becoming a full moon.
I had the same feeling about that intrusive /e/ in avocados, but
didn't look that up either. California (Calavo) avocados hardly need
waxing, being sort of naturally waxed like cucumbers.  The Florida
ones seem to merit the "alligator pear" name. ( Sometimes they are
really good.)
When we do finally get our truckloads of books rationally dispersed
around the house we've been living in since Sept, I'll get back in the
habit of using the dictionaries.
AM


>

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