Fun with phrases

[Jonathan Lighter]

"The predator becomes the prey!"

I just heard it (again) in a promo for a TV special on shark hunting by humans.

165 GB exx.  beginning in 1961

70,000 raw ghits.

The earliest GB exx. refer to the animal world.  By 2000, exclusively
human activity is often referred to.

JL

On Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 7:51 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
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "...guy" isn't in GB till 1998.
>
> JL
>
> On Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 7:07 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
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> "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>w=
>> rote:
>>
>>>
>>> "Don't *be* that person!"
>>>
>>> =3D '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 =97 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
>>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> 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