fun with phrases

[George Thompson]

Do book titles count?  How about the recent epidemic of book titles ending
with the words "That Changed the World" -- a phenomenon that has changed the
world of publishing, at least.
Checking just the catalog of my former library, I find 195 entries for books
with the words "changed" and "world" in the title, of which 166 were
published in 1991 or after.
Among the things that have changed the world are:
Adidas sneakers; bananas; the Beatles; codfish; container ships; Guinness
stout; mauve (the color); the transit of Venus; and the twist (the dance).

GAT

On Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 9:22 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> "(and) changed the rules of X forever."
>
> A favorite of TV documentaries. Almost needless to say: no 19th C. hits at
> GB.
>
> Earliest at GB is allegedly from the _Atlantic_ in 1987 (snippet not
> verified):
>
> "They simply went on doing what they did best — quizzes, long dinners,
> longer cocktail parties — until a series of unrelated events *changed the
> rules of their beloved game forever*."
>
> JL
> On Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 9:22 PM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: fun with phrases
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I am assuming you're jesting on both A and B (I take it, it's meant to
> > be a parody on Yiddish jokes). "Sausage" is "kiełbasa" and diminutive
> > for "cat" is "kicia", not "kishka". The Russian diminutive for "cat" is
> > "kisia", which is pronounced nearly the same, or "kiska", which is
> > similar, but not identical to "kishka". Neither has any connection to
> > "kishka" (Russian) or "kiszka" (Polish), other than one's gut is used
> > for various purposes (e.g., strings for musical instruments) and the
> > other is wrapped in gut. As such, my sense of humor fails me with
> > respect to this fanciful dialog. Perhaps it's the amount of sleep I got
> > last night with cats jumping all over me... or the kiełbasa I ate
> > earlier...
> >
> > VS-)
> >
> > On 10/4/2011 8:55 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
> > > On Tue, Oct 4, 2011 at 8:41 PM, Victor Steinbok<aardvark66 at gmail.com>
> >  wrote:
> > >> "kishka" is Slavic>>Yiddish for "gut" or
> > >> "intestines".
> > > A. "Kishka'?! Why have you named your kitten "Intestine"?
> > > B. It's not named "Intestine." "Kishka" means *sausage" in Polish.
> > > It's named "Sausage," because it's such a fat little thing."
> > >
> > >   "Un faux ami," as the French say.
> > >
> > > --
> > > -Wilson
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > 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
>



-- 
George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ.
Pr., 1998, but nothing much since then.

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