Spreading da stink eye on da mainlend

[Jonathan Lighter]

The HDAS files have several exx. beginning in  1985. One refers to ca1970.

The distribution is clearly Southern California/Hawaii, esp. among Asian
Americans.
If that isn't over-interpreting the limited data.

JL

On Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 4:14 PM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
> Subject:      Spreading da stink eye on da mainlend
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The teller at the drive-through where I go with my dogs clearly has a
> Southern accent.
>
> As I'm working on the ATM, one of my dogs pleads with his eyes and
> sometimes his bark for her to come out and give him snacks.
>
> She has said on more than one occasion that my dog is giving her "the stink
> eye," a common Hawaiian expression meaning "dirty look." Today, I asked her
> where she picked that up, and she said she used to live on Maui.
>
> I think this is an expression with great potential on the mainlend.
>
> Benjamin Barrett
> Seattle, WA
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"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