mullahed

[Dennis Baron]

@larry -- and later I found this useful discussion from Michael
Quinion, who addresses the sports context in particular:

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-mul1.htm


____________________
Dennis Baron
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Department of English
University of Illinois
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On Jun 27, 2010, at 9:44 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: mullahed
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 11:30 AM -0500 6/27/10, Dennis Baron wrote:
>> During the ESPN broadcast of the England-Germany game, the British
>> commentator said that England "got mullahed."  The OED has only a
>> little on this -- mullered (the earlier term, cited, I think, in
>> 1993)
>> and mullahed (a little later), meaning very drunk.
>>
>> Googling shows there is apparently another meaning, overpowered,
>> trounced, that is also in use, and is the one signaled by the
>> commentator. Googling also shows that many people think mullahed may
>> derive from mullah, though it would seem likely that the word is an
>> r-
>> less version of mullered, if that term did indeed come first.
>>
>> But I had never heard the expression before. Anyone out there know
>> more about it?
>>
>> db
>
> I certainly didn't--I thought the commentator was saying something
> about a mullet, so I appreciate the (semi-)clarification.  The vowel
> was definitely the one I use in "mullet" ([@] or [^]) and not the one
> I use in "mullah" ([U]), which of course means nothing except to my
> interpretive faculties or lack thereof.  I should have realized my
> mistake--mullets are really much more of a hockey than a
> soccer/"football" thing.
>
> LH
>
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