does and is (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Charles C Doyle]

In the parlance of folklorists (and a few other sorts of scholars), these expressions are commonly called "sarcastic interrogatives" or "sarcastic interrogative affirmatives" and ". . . negatives."  I myself coined the somewhat awkward terms back in 1975.  A recent discussion:

Charles Clay Doyle, "Is the Pope Still Catholic?  Historical Obsrvations on Sarcastic Interrogatives," _Western Folklore_ 67 (2008): 5-33.

--Charlie

________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Jonathan Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 12:50 PM
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Does a chicken have lips?  (Quick!! Does it??)

Is a pig's *ass* pork?

JL

On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 12:12 PM, William Salmon <
wsalmon1 at interchange.ubc.ca> wrote:
>
> > Does . .  .
> >
> > A bear shit in the woods
> > A frog have a watertight ass?
> > The pope wear a funny hat?
> > Rose Kennedy have a black dress?
>
> #2 actually goes in the 'IS' category for me. Like this: "Is a frog's ass
> watertight?"
>
> Also, to add to the 'IS' list: "Is a preacher sober on Sunday?"
>
> WS
>
> > Is . . .
> > The pope Catholic?
> > A pig's pecker pork?
> > A bull's balls beef?


--
"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