Query: "I've got your number."

[Laurence Horn]

>At 3/16/2010 07:28 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>>>...
>>
>>I always assumed, without any privileged knowledge, that it referred
>>to a phone number:  I've got your number, I know where to reach/get
>>to you, you can't escape...   Maybe evoking those old movies like
>>"Dial M for Murder", in which the bad guy has the good guy/gal's
>>(phone) number and can call it at will to raise the latter's fear
>>quotient and the audience's tension.  But that's just a guess.

Oh well, I did say it was a guess, which on careful consideration I withdraw.

LH

>A bad guess about "Dial M for Murder", however.  There's only one
>phone call, by the husband to the wife he has blackmailed someone
>into murdering.  See Wikipedia for the (complex) plot.
>
>Joel
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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