Where the Bee Sucks, There Sucks Pedantry

[W Brewer]

>
> Poster:       Ronald Butters, Subject: Where the Bee Sucks, There Sucks
> Pedantry

RE: prescriptive gag reflex. Good flame, Ron. Chihuahua (dog) has been
borrowed into Taiwanese Mandarin as jee-wa-wa (wawa meaning baby, young
child); the locals use this borrowing as a generic for any member of the
toy dog group. My superegoistic, prescriptive gag reflex says: what is
wrong with these people? But eventually my elitist objectivity kicks in and
I think: repress that shameful thought and describe naive native usage:
chihuahua (Mexican lap dog) borrowed as jee-wa-wa (any toy dog in general,
Pomeranian, poodle, etc.). Incidentally, a couple of summers ago during a
vacation in Virginia, my brother-in-law referred to a wasp sting as a bee
sting. I queried him on this and he insisted. What is wrong with him?

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