"a warning singsong"

[Jonathan Lighter]

It suddenly occurs to me that the suprasegmental in question was popularized
in the phrase,

"You'll be SORRReeeee!"

which was in wide use in teh early '40s. (Though I can't find a prescise
characterization of it quickly, it is usally styled something like the
above. Whenever I've heard it, it's the typical "warning singsong.")

I believe the phrase got started on a radio show. Did Red Skelton have
something to do with it?

At any rate, the questions remain. Is the suprasegmental a 1940s innovation,
or (as I think) did "You'll be sorreeee!" simply exploit an
established feature?

JL
On Wed, Mar 16, 2011 at 11:04 AM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "a warning singsong"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I don't think so. I don't recall that as being nearly as rhythmical and
> up-and-down as what I'm thinking of.
>
> But even so, it would still have been in the early '50s.
>
> Has anybody heard the "warning singsong suprasegmental" from speakers born
> before, say, the 1920s?
>
> I get the feeling that it was invented by pioneering rug-rats and carried
> over into "grownup" life.
>
> JL
>  On Wed, Mar 16, 2011 at 10:50 AM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: "a warning singsong"
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > 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:
> >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject:      "a warning singsong"
> > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > 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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