does and is (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Garson O'Toole]

George wrote:
> I think one of the barfiles in "Ulysses" uses a sort of spoonerized
> verison of "does a duck swim?" --  "does a swim duck?"  It
> doesn't turn up in Google Books, but the expression gets some
> matches in plain old-fashioned Google.

I think the phrase was "Could a swim duck? says I."

I cannot find a completely readable out-of-copyright 1922 edition of
Ulysses in Google Books. So the versions below consist of an online
text and two reproductions. Errors are highly probable. (Of course the
original edition had errors too).

Here is text from online-literature.com:

Episode 12 - Cyclops (excerpt)

Gob, he's not as green as he's cabbagelooking. Arsing around from one
pub to another, leaving it to your own honour, with old Giltrap's dog
and getting fed up by the ratepayers and corporators. Entertainment
for man and beast. And says Joe:

-- Could you make a hole in another pint?

-- Could a swim duck? says I.

-- Same again, Terry, says Joe. Are you sure you won't have anything
in the way of liquid refreshment? says he.

-- Thank you, no, says Bloom. As a matter of fact I just wanted to
meet Martin Cunningham, don't you see, about this insurance of poor
Dignam's. Martin asked me to go to the house. You see, he, Dignam, I
mean, didn't serve any notice of the assignment on the company at the
time and nominally under the act the mortgagee can't recover on the
policy.

http://www.online-literature.com/view.php/ulysses/12?term=duck


Here are two links to reproductions in Google Books:

http://books.google.com/books?id=FPxt5rmu1h8C&q=%22swim+duck%22#v=snippet&

http://books.google.com/books?id=fxWfE1JLUIMC&q=%22swim+duck%22#v=snippet&


On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 9:18 PM, George Thompson
<george.thompson at nyu.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: does and is (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I think one of the barfiles in "Ulysses" uses a sort of spoonerized verison of "does a duck swim?" --  "does a swim duck?"  It doesn't turn up in Google Books, but the expression gets some matches in plain old-fashioned Google.
>
> Probably Lenehan -- seems the sort of thing he would say.
>
> Back when my youth was in its flower, say 2003, or a bit earlier, maybe 1964 -- I had Ulysses nearly memorized.  It bothers me not to recall this exactly.
>
> GAT
>
> George A. Thompson
> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Date: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 3:10 pm
> Subject: Re: does and is (UNCLASSIFIED)
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
>> 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."
>>
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