OT: -ify and -ification

[Joel S. Berson]

I suspect Bill is right.  (Although it's not Shift but Shift Lock
that Archie would have needed to be heavy enough for.)  I don't
remember typewriters well enough to say whether shift lock worked
without needing one to also hold down the shift key, and I have set
my computer keyboard to require both (Caps Lock and Shift) to be
pressed simultaneously in order to get all caps.*  My forelegs -- er,
fingers -- are far enough apart for that.

Certainly on today's computer keyboards Archie would have no problem.

* A neat little app called CapsUnlock that eliminates accidents
caused by fat left pinkies.

Joel

At 9/1/2011 09:57 AM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC wrote:
>Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>Caveats: NONE
>
>I thought the deal with Archie (the cockroach in George Herriman's
>"Archie and Mehitabel") was not that his legs were so close together,
>but that he didn't weigh enough to push down the shift key on the old
>manual typewriters of the era.  If he'd been heavier, he could have used
>the Shift Lock and made capital letters.
>
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
>Behalf Of
> > Joel S. Berson
> > Sent: Monday, August 29, 2011 9:49 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Re: OT: -ify and -ification
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>----------------------
> > -
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: OT:  -ify and -ification
> >
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>------
> > -
> >
> > I see Arnold, unlike Archie, has two front legs that are far enough
> > apart that he can hold down the Shift key at the same time as he
> > strikes a letter key.  Evidence below, in signed message.
> >
> > Joel
> >
> > At 8/28/2011 11:45 PM, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
> > ...
> > >fascinating.  i did mention "Californication" (the Red Hot Chili
> > >Peppers and the tv show) in
> > >   http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2010/06/13/creepitude/
> > >but i didn't trace it back any further than these two vectors.
> > >
> > >arnold
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>Caveats: NONE
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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