Simile: like *substance* through a tin horn

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Wed Apr 4 20:01:57 UTC 2012


No "tin horn" 'funnel' in OED either.

Since real tin horns are abundantly documented, it seems perverse to insist
on a fanciful and undocumented sense as the relevant one.

JL

On Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 3:47 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Simile: like *substance* through a tin horn
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Because funnels look like horns, and both are made of tin.
> DanG
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 3:36 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: Simile: like *substance* through a tin horn
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I've never had any inkling that "tin horn" was a term for a funnel.  Why
> > would it be?
> >
> >
>
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