"a warning singsong"

[Dan Goncharoff]

Was Desi Arnaz's "Lucy! You have some esplainin' to do!" a singsong?

DanG

On Wed, Mar 16, 2011 at 10:45 AM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      "a warning singsong"
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> I mean that universally recognized singsong suprasegmental that people use
> to suggest that you'd better stop what you're doing instantly. It can also
> be used with "I told you so!" for extra obnoxiousness.  That would be a
> "triumphant singsong"; GB gives a 1906 hit - out of only nine exx. - but
> that one seems insufficiently sarcastic  (if that's the right word.)
>
> A "warning singsong (tone)" is about the best way I can describe the
> principal phenomenon.  GB's earliest relevant hit (and there are very few)
> is from 1951, pretty recently from Hengest's standpoint.
>
> My mother used to use it on occasion, but I can't recall if she started in
> my earliest childhood or later.  My feeling is that it was later, when
> everybody was using it, including me. But I can't picture my grandparents
> using it.
>
> Questions:
>
> 1. Is this feature common in other languages?
>
> 2. What's the earliest evidence for its existence in English?  Did young
> Will Shakespeare employ it?  (For that matter, did he go, "Nyah nyah nyah
> nyaah nyah"? I fear that history is mute on that question.)
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
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