talk about dialect restriction!

[Doug Harris]

'Unusual' would have been my guess 'til I googled "single google hit".
But in the process, I discovered a jargon word that is _not_ likely to
make a 'best of . . .' list of any sort.
someone (who's name is relatively unimportant in this context) wrote:
"Do you realise that bufapopo doesn't get a single google hit? Its outrageous. Badger would be appalled.
[Seems pretty clear that youre not going to get it, so I'll have to tell you. Read on...]
[Yes, the answer is "bearing an unsympathetic facial aspect in the presence of a police officer"; catch-all crime used by Chief Constable Badger Courage of If... fame. I'm ashamed of you all -W]"
Who'd have thought (there _was_ such a word)?
dh


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----- Original message ----------------------------------------
From: "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Received: 2/8/2009 5:55:55 PM
Subject: talk about dialect restriction!


>I was listening to an audiobook of Annie Proulx's _Shipping News_
>from a few years back and noticed that one of the Newfoundlanders
>referred to waking up and noticing that the day "looked snowly".  I
>thought this was an interesting turn (sure enough, the blizzard came
>later in the day, even though it was May), but couldn't find any
>listing for "snowly" in the OED.  Googling didn't help, until I tried
>googling "looking snowly" and found exactly one google hit, for an
>entry in a 1990 Dictionary of Newfoundland English.

>LH

>P.S. Does anyone remember what it's called when you get a single g-hit?

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

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