another meaning reversal

[Bill Palmer]

CNN's Frederica Whitfield just gave a report on the Obama administration's
attempted "no drilling moratorium"


Bill P
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rick Barr" <rickbarremail at GMAIL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, June 26, 2010 9:40 AM
Subject: Re: another meaning reversal


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Rick Barr <rickbarremail at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: another meaning reversal
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> A line in a movie reminded me of this discussion (i.e., of expressions
> like
> "could care less" and "so much of a peep"). Perhaps it was another example
> of a conscious meaning reversal, perhaps it was just a slip that made it
> past the director and the scriptwriters.
>
> The actor who said it was Rob Schneider, and the movie was
> *Grown-Ups*(2010):
> "I don't even hardly know them."
> (The character is referring to his daughters.)
>
> To my surprise, there are seven hits for that phrase in Google (unrelated
> to
> the movie).
>
> -- Rick
>
>
> On Sat, May 22, 2010 at 11:20 PM, Laurence Horn
> <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:
>
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: another meaning reversal
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> At 10:28 PM -0400 5/22/10, victor steinbok wrote:
>> >Yes, thanks! I noticed it, but as soon as I went to look for a
>> >standard example, I forgot to mention it.
>> >
>> >VS-)
>>
>> That could be relevant, but the first few pages of "so much of a
>> peep" have only one example of the kind below--the one Victor cites.
>> The others all involve negative polarity licensers (overt negation,
>> "without", "never", "if", "yet to", etc.).  Volokh's is either a typo
>> or an outlier.
>>
>> LH
>>
>> >
>> >On Sat, May 22, 2010 at 9:04 PM, Gordon, Matthew J.
>> ><GordonMJ at missouri.edu> wrote:
>> >>
>> >>  It might be important that in the example that Victor cited it's
>> >>"so much OF a peep" not "so much as a peep." Thus, it's
>> >>interpretable as "something that is very peep-like," in other words
>> >>it was only a peep and nothing louder.
>> >>
>> >>  -Matt Gordon
>>
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


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