pit in one's stomach

Tom Zurinskas truespel at HOTMAIL.COM
Wed Feb 8 22:33:19 UTC 2012


We are all prescriptivists. Even antiprescriptivists are prescribing antiprescriptivism.

Tom Zurinskas, Conn 20 yrs, Tenn 3, NJ 33, now Fl 9.
See how English spelling links to sounds at http://justpaste.it/ayk




>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: pit in one's stomach
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Have we all become prescriptivists?? Why is this somewhat new idiom an ERROR, and not just the way folks talk nowadays? So, it probably originated as a misunderstanding of some common phrases--but so did many standard expressions and lexemes!
>
> --Charlie
>
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Dan Goncharoff [thegonch at GMAIL.COM]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 08, 2012 2:41 PM
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I am not blaming anyone, yet.
>
> Maybe Friedman used the phrase correctly, and an editor changed it
> incorrectly. Maybe this happened the time before, too.
>
> Maybe Friedman used the phrase incorrectly, and an editor tried to
> change it and was pushed back by the more senior Friedman.
>
> Maybe Friedman used the phrase incorrectly, and the editor didn't see
> it as an error.
>
> I would be curious to know which set of events occurred. I also think
> all the possibilities need to be kept in mind before declaring this a
> change in usage rather than a mistake.
>
> DanG
>
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 1:18 PM, Ben Zimmer
> <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster: Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> > Subject: Re: pit in one's stomach
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > 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.
> >> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list