Simile: like *substance* through a tin horn

Dan Goncharoff thegonch at GMAIL.COM
Wed Apr 4 20:09:42 UTC 2012


The conversation started with a documented sense of tin horn as funnel. It
seems perverse to pretend it didn't exist.
DanG


On Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 4:01 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> 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
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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
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> > 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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