megilla

[Laurence Horn]

At 1:38 PM -0500 11/7/10, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>  >Am I missing a fourth contenduh?
>
>Surely not the Big Easy.
>
>JL

No, nor the Big Apple or the Big Aristotle (a.k.a. Shaquille O'Neal).
Gotta end with an -a /@/, them's the rules.  Maybe "the Big Palooka",
as in the old Mack Sennett movie.

LH

>
>On Sun, Nov 7, 2010 at 9:02 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>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: megilla
>>
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  At 9:05 AM -0500 11/7/10, Ben Zimmer wrote:
>>  >On Tue, Oct 26, 2010 at 12:21 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>  >>
>>  >>  Tony Harris on CNN: "This is just a *magilla* of a storm!  *There's* a
>>  word
>>  >>  a haven't used in a long time!"
>>  >>
>>  >>  250 RGs for "magilla of a."
>>  >>
>>  >>  I assume this has been influenced by "The Magilla Gorilla Show"
>>  >>  (1963-1967).  It's a gorilla of a storm. You know, a monster.
>>  >
>>  >Today's "Doonesbury" has Roland Hedley saying to a fictional Dubya,
>>  >"Mr. President, let's talk about the big magilla -- your decision to
>>  >invade Iraq."
>>  >
>>  >http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/archive/2010/11/07
>>  >
>>  >--bgz
>>  >
>>  Complete with the elegant verb "to hand-cherry-pick".
>>
>>  I havethis picture of a triangular wrestling ring containing, one in
>>  each corner, the Big Kahuna, the Big Enchilada, and the Big Magilla,
>>  each dressed in his (or her?) traditional ethnic garb.   LH
>>
>>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
>--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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