face-first pratfall (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

I have a four year old son, so any day I can learn a new synonym for
"butt" is a good day.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
Behalf Of
> Laurence Horn
> Sent: Tuesday, October 04, 2011 9:48 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: face-first pratfall
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
----------------------
> -
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: face-first pratfall
>
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------
> -
>
> On Oct 4, 2011, at 9:45 PM, James A. Landau wrote:
>
> > http://channels.isp.netscape.com/sports/story.jsp?flok=FF-APO-
> +&idq=/ff/story/1001%2F20111004%2F9043.htm&sc=+&floc=sp-main-1-l1
> >
> > "The Rays weren't the only ones who had trouble keeping up with
Beltre - a
> television cameraman trying to run alongside Beltre to capture the
image as
> the star jogged home did a face-first pratfall."
> >
> > Huh?
> >
> >   - Jim Landau
> >
> Another instance of loss of transparency.  "Prat" for 'buttocks',
despite its
> impressive centuries-old legacy, is pretty moribund outside of the
pratfall,
> which in turn could be reanalyzed as something like 'a comical or
humiliating
> fall', maybe '...esp. on the buttocks'.  True, there are hits for
"(fall) on
> one's prat", but I'd wager a lot of speakers fail to make the
connection, or
> have "prat" as a distinct lexical item at all.  I watched the above
event both
> live and on replay, and I can vouch for the fact that no prats were
injured in
> this video.
>
> LH
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org