yoda as a generic

[Jonathan Lighter]

How about "me and my surfing Yoda Cheryl"?

[http://nolefthand.blogspot.com/], Aug. 10, 2009.

Of course, Cheryl might be like Yoda in some other way.  Doesn't look much
like him though.

JL





On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 1:42 PM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: yoda as a generic
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Ron, are you auditioning for Grinch or for Scrooge? Or are you trying to
> genericize your own name?
>
> I know, I know--you're one of the happiest people you know. And I can
> outgrump you any day.
>
> Fine... you don't like genericization in this case. I don't see the
> problem, but I'll grant you the point. Would you settle for a
> "snowclonelet" of "the Yoda of X"? That does not solve the problem of
> "my Yoda", but it does address this particular usage, does it not?
>
>     VS-)
>
> On 5/4/2010 1:02 PM, ronbutters at AOL.COM wrote:
> > It is (apparently) true that the quotation that Amy cites has one of the
> legal markers of generics: it is not Capitalized. Even so, I don't think it
> is really generic, the fundamental criterion for which is that most people
> do not recognize a connection between the word and its etymogical proper
> noun. Any name can be used the way YODA is used here. Even "quixotic" is
> probably not truly generic for most people who know the word.
> > ------Original Message------
> > From: Dave Wilton
> > Sender: ADS-L
> > To: ADS-L
> > ReplyTo: ADS-L
> > Subject: Re: [ADS-L] yoda as a generic
> > Sent: May 4, 2010 5:14 PM
> >
> > It's been around a while. From Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 3,
> "School
> > Hard," shooting script 7/30/1997, by David Greenwalt:
> >
> > Spike talking to Angel: "You think you can fool me? You were my sire,
> > man...you were my Yoda!"
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of
> > Amy West
> > Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2010 7:19 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: yoda as a generic
> >
> > (I did a quick search of the since-1999 ADS-L archive and the
> > before-April-2008 Language Log archive before posting this: I
> > apologize if I missed something.)
> >
> > I spotted this use of "yoda" as generic -- equivalent to "guru" -- in
> > the Boston Globe yesterday:
> >
> > I am drawn to Prohibition, as I am to all catastrophes, so I turn to
> > Prohibition yoda Dan Okrent for enlightenment. Okrent is author of
> > the forthcoming book "The Last Call: the Rise and Fall of
> > Prohibition."
> >
> > --Sam Allis, Boston Globe, May 3, 2010, p. 23, G section
> >
> >
> http://www.boston.com/ae/events/articles/2010/05/03/remembering_the_dark_day
> > s_during_the_nations_dry_times/
> >
> > ---Amy West
> >
>
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