act out

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Show out" is brand-new to me. In fact, I don't even think I could use it
properly.

JL

On Tue, Mar 2, 2010 at 9:14 AM, Charles Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: act out
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I'm wondering if the "popular" use of "act out" is more prevelant in some
> regions than others. I have heard it all my life--but I have also heard
> "show out" all my life; I was grown before I realized that "show off" is the
> more common expression in places where I am not.
>
> --Charlie
>
>
>
> ---- Original message ----
> >Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2010 08:51:00 -0500
> >From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> (on behalf of
> Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>)
> >
> >Not in OED (if you can believe it).  It's been in popular as well as
> >psychological use for decades.
> >
> >But never mind that.  In discussing the recent incident at SeaWorld, an
> >animal expert on CNN talked about the likelihood that any captive killer
> >whale could begin to "act out" at any time.
> >
> >Just how an animal might "act out" in human psychological terms I don't
> >know. I suppose I would have said, "revert to type," "become enraged,"
> "harm
> >its trainer," "turn," etc., long before it would have occurred to me to
> say
> >"act out."
> >
> >"Act up," of course, is far too mild to adequately cover what happened.
> >
> >JL
>
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