Off and on
Jonathan Lighter
wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Wed Sep 21 15:32:33 UTC 2011
You park "in" driveways, not "on" them!!
I want my language back, pointy-headed Eastern establishment linguistician!!
JL
On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 11:26 AM, 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: Re: Off and on
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 11:12 AM, Hunter, Lynne R CIV
> SPAWARSYSCEN-PACIFIC, 71700 <lynne.hunter at navy.mil> wrote:
> > To my recollection, a light bulb used to go _on_ (producing more light or
> clarity) when people had an idea; now it goes off (maybe borrowed from _a
> bomb_ going off)?
>
> Flashbulb, perhapa? Even though the term, "Speed-Graphic," now has
> meaning for only a few of us surviving elders.:-(
>
> --
> -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
>
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> 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."
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