TIME quoting Putin

Thu Sep 9 13:36:01 UTC 2010

I probably would have spelled the idiom as "up side [for 'beside' or 'on the side of'?] the head."  And I would give "side" more stress than the syllable receives in "beside" (about the same stress as "up"), with a small juncture separating "up" and "side."  That is to say, "up" and "side" are separate words!

--Charlie

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From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Jonathan Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Thursday, September 09, 2010 8:40 AM
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"Upside the head" has become so frequent in US English over the last forty
years (only) that "over the head," even if literally correct, is starting to
sound almost archaic to me.

JL

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