pit in one's stomach

[Ben Zimmer]

On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 12:08 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
>
> My question is whether the error was Friedman's or an editor's, and,
> if Friedman's, why didn't an editor catch it.

Let's not blame an editor for this. As it happens, Friedman's used the
expression before (I forgot Mark Liberman posted about it on Language
Log last year):

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3157


> On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 11:48 AM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
> >
> > Thomas Friedman in today's Times:
> >
> > ---
> > http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/opinion/friedman-freedom-at-4-below.html
> > To observe the democratic awakenings happening in places like Egypt,
> > Syria and Russia is to travel with a glow in your heart and a pit in
> > your stomach.
> > [...]
> > But that pit in the stomach comes from knowing that while the protests
> > are propelled by deep aspirations for dignity, justice and
> > self-determination, such heroic emotions have to compete with other
> > less noble impulses and embedded interests in these societies.
> > ---
> >
> > A commenter cites Paul Brians' _Common Errors in English Usage_
> >
> > ---
> > http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/pit.html
> > Just as you can love someone from the bottom of your heart, you can
> > also experience a sensation of dread in the pit (bottom) of your
> > stomach. I don’t know whether people who mangle this common expression
> > into “pit in my stomach” envision an ulcer, an irritating peach pit
> > they’ve swallowed or are thinking of the pyloric sphincter; but
> > they’ve got it wrong.
> > ---
> >
> > Jan Freeman wrote about it in a 2008 Globe column, noting the shift
> > from "a feeling in the pit of your stomach" to  "a pit (you feel) in
> > your stomach":
> >
> > http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/04/27/gut_check/
> >
> > I'm reminded a bit of the idiom blend "eat at your craw," combining
> > "eat at you" and "stick in your craw":
> >
> > http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind1104C&L=ADS-L&P=R10765
> >
> > Neither pits nor craws are easy to place these days.
> >

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