Language notes from the slopes of E-15.

[Jonathan Lighter]

Yeah, "failed to achieve greatness."  By whose standard?

JL

On Fri, Jun 25, 2010 at 9:13 PM, Mark Mandel <thnidu at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Language notes from the slopes of E-15.
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>
> That name sounds familiar, and not from professional exposure. I think my
> daughter had a class with him.
>
> Come to think of it, it's a double dactyl. Uh-oh....
>
> m a m
>
> On Fri, Jun 25, 2010 at 7:26 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > It's also a good bet that any Icelander that you encounter will have
> > heard of any other Icelander of any note, e.g. "famous in the field."
> > At M.I.T in the '70's, I had an Icelandic classmate who is now
> > somewhat known in the field. In the '80's, I encountered a random
> > Harvard undergraduate from Iceland. When I started to tell him about
> > my former classmate, he interrupted, saying, "Of course! You're
> > referring to Prof. [Hoskuldur] Thrainsson!" He went on to explain that
> > Iceland is such a small country, without a lot happening, that, in
> > effect, the entire population has already been (in)famous, locally,
> > for at least fifteen minutes. It was very likely that, if I met
> > another Icelander and mentioned my interlocutor's name, that Icelander
> > probably would be at least familiar with it - Local Boy Makes Good!
> > Admitted To Harvard! - and, perhaps, might even be from the same
> > 'hood.
> >
>
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