Downsizing the N-pound gorilla

[Laurence Horn]

At 7:54 PM -0400 4/17/11, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
>Given that some of us on this list may outweigh a 200 lb gorilla, it is not
>very impressive at all...
>DanG

True, but how threatening would it be if the reference were to "a
200-pound dialectologist" or "a 200-pound lexicographer"?   (Well-fed
as we may be.)

LH

>On Sun, Apr 17, 2011 at 7:20 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>  -----------------------
>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>>  Subject:      Downsizing the N-pound gorilla
>>
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  The other day, someone on some random TV "reality" show made reference to
>>
>>  "... a _200_-pound gorilla."
>>
>>  Didn't the gorilla used to weigh *800* pounds, back in the day? *Two*
>>  hundred pounds is only about the size of a well-fed chimpanzee.
>>
>>  --
>>  -Wilson
>>  -----
>>  All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
>>  to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>>  -Mark Twain
>>
>>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
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