does and is (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Laurence Horn]

At 8:05 PM +0000 2/23/11, Charles C Doyle wrote:
>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

There are also sarcastic conjunctions ("And I'm Marie of
Romania"--wasn't there a Dorothy Parker poem on this theme?) and
conditionals ("If p, I'm a monkey's uncle/I'll eat my hat" or the
earlier "I'm a Dutchman if I do"), although the latter is more
broadly rhetorical rather than simply sarcastic.

Oh, and we shouldn't forget the blends:
"Is the bear Catholic?"
"Does a Pope shit in the woods?"

LH

>
>________________________________________
>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."
>
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