viral tot mom

[Charles C Doyle]

Or "go virulent."  No doubt Ms. Grace is savvy as regards etymologies.

--Charlie

________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Ben Zimmer [bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU]
Sent: Friday, June 03, 2011 3:44 PM

On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 3:29 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
> Nancy Grace herself in a CNN appearance today was describing the "jailhouse
> video" of Casey Anthony speaking with her parents.  As NG exclaimed, "The
> tot mom goes *viral,* yelling that *she's* the victim, *she's" the victim!"
>
> The video had nothing to do with the established sense of "going viral." It
> was presented as evidence in a court of law. CA went "viral" on the video,
> not after the video.
>
> "Go wild" or "go ballastic" would fit here.

"Go postal" would be the more likely source of the malapropism.

--bgz

--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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