went walkabout

[Laurence Horn]

At 3:54 PM -0400 6/24/09, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
>On Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 3:48 PM, Laurence Horn<laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>>
>>  I wonder if "go walkabout" (or "hike the Appalachian Trail") will now
>>  become established as a euphemism:
>
>The latter was suggested by a Talking Points Memo reader yesterday,
>before the full story emerged:
>
>http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/coining_a_phrase.php
>
Wow, that's impressive on SP's part--coining a euphemism before
anyone even knew what it was a euphemism *for*.  Next time I go off
to Argentina for an illicit weekend with my lover there, I'll
certainly know what to tell my family (and the press) I was doing!

LH

P.S.  I note that both SP on Talking Points and I deleted the
preposition:  somehow, "hike the Appalachian Trail" makes for a
snazzier euphemism than "hike on the Appalachian Trail"

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