shellacking

[Laurence Horn]

At 12:07 PM +0000 11/5/10, Charles C Doyle wrote:
>Obama's use of the gerund "shellacking" sounded so ordinary to me
>that I was surprised at all the attention the word is receiving!  I
>have known and used it (in that sense) all my life.
>
>Might it be limited (or have become limited since the 1920s), to
>Southern and African American dialects?
>

No.  At least not for those non-African American non-Southerners who
follow any sports at all.

Oops, I see further down in my mailer that Jon and Ron already
covered this ground.  What they said.

LH

>________________________________________
>From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of
>Ben Zimmer [bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU]
>Sent: Friday, November 05, 2010 12:59 AM
>
>Obama's reference to the Democrats' electoral "shellacking" is the
>inspiration for my latest Word Routes column:
>
>http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/2479/
>
>I've found the "beating" sense going back to 1924, in boxing circles.
>Antedatings welcome, as always.
>
>--bgz
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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