Fun with phrases

[victor steinbok]

"Person"? Seriously? I would have expected, "Don't be that guy!" This
doesn't mean that "person" does not happen--obviously it does. But this may
be yet another chicken/egg question...

VS-)

On Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 6:46 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

>
> "Don't *be* that person!"
>
> = 'Don't be that kind of person' and/or 'Don't find yourself in that
> unpleasant situation.'
>
> 1985 Cheryl Reimold _The Woman's Guide to Staying Safe_ (N.Y.: Monarch
> Press) 38:   Would-be burglars often ring many apartments until
> someone foolishly lets them in — don't be that person.
>
> Many, many over the past few years.  I can recall a magazine article
> of the early '90s advising, "Don't be that dude!" (I.e., "Don't dress
> or behave that way, chaps, if you wish to impress innumerable
> nymphets.")
>
> I've also heard, in self-reproach, "I don't want to be that person!"
> (i.e., that sort of unpleasant person).
>
> JL
>
>
> On Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 7:19 PM, 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: Fun with phrases
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > As you'd expect from Mr. Clean.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 6:09 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> >> Subject:      Fun with phrases
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> "Mr. Clean is tackling the mess like some kind of mess-tackler!"
> >>
> >> --
> >> -Wilson
> >> -----
> >> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
> >> to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> >> -Mark Twain
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> 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
> >
>
>
>
> --
> "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
>

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