I guaran-god-damn-tee it

[Laurence Horn]

At 5:14 PM -0400 6/27/10, Wilson Gray wrote:
>Since only God damns, no emphasis on _God_ is required, in any case.

Wilson, of all posters, should recall the argument from Quang Phuc
Dong (of the South Hanoi Institute of Technology) in his paper
"English Sentences Without Overt Grammatical Subject" [with due
credit to his alter ego James D. McCawley] back in the 60s that "God"
is not the subject of this verb, as evidenced by the contrast between

Goddamn God!
*Goddamn Himself!

LH

>Well, Catholically speaking, the Pope can damn. But only because God
>has gone out of His way to *let* Popes do that, in His stead. ;-)
>
>-Wilson
>
>On Sat, Jun 26, 2010 at 11:21 AM, Damien Hall <djh514 at york.ac.uk> wrote:
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       Damien Hall <djh514 at YORK.AC.UK>
>>  Subject:      I guaran-god-damn-tee it
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  Jon: 'Some may also enjoy _irregoddamnless_.'
>>
>>  Randy: 'Shouldn't that be "irre-goddamn-gardless"?'
>>
>  > Jon: 'Should be but ain't.'
>>

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