"be inappropriate"

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Fri May 4 20:29:04 UTC 2012


On May 4, 2012, at 3:48 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> Definitely tending to replace more "judgmental" terms like "obscene" and
> "immoral":
>
> 2011  reviewer of _Bad Teacher_ at Amazon com
> http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Teacher/product-reviews/B005SAV9SO/ref=cm_cr_pr_hist_4?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addFourStar&showViewpoints=0
> : Cameron Diaz plays the Bad Teacher and is so bad she's downright vicious
> and inappropriate. There's very little that's redeeming with her....
>
> Having seen the movie, I can tell you that "obscene" and "immoral" (and
> "criminal") are the words this reviewer is looking for. (Not that it wasn't
> fitfully amusing for those of us who never missed an issue of _National
> Lampoon_.)
>
> JL

Interesting diversity of viewpoints:

either "funny and refreshing, in that it is not laced with vulgarities and profanity throughout" or (from a different reviewer)

"you have cursing by unexpected people to unexpected people, in the wrongest of circumstances"

--but evidently not throughout.  Or maybe it just depends on your standard of comparison.

LH

>
>
> On Thu, Nov 10, 2011 at 7:56 AM, 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: "be inappropriate"
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> He clearly said, "I have never acted inappropriately with anyone, period."
>>
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdcvucjDTts   [at 1:07].
>>
>> JL
>>
>> On Wed, Nov 9, 2011 at 10:37 PM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com>
>> wrote:
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
>>> Subject:      Re: "be inappropriate"
>>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> Just sounds like an -ly drop to me. Especially with a long word like
>> that, who wants to go adding another syllable?
>>>
>>> Benjamin Barrett
>>> Seattle, WA
>>>
>>> On Nov 9, 2011, at 7:32 PM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> This looks like a blend to me:
>>>> "I've never acted inappropriately" + "I've never done anything =
>>>> inappropriate."
>>>> Gerald Cohen
>>>>
>>>> ________________________________
>>>>
>>>> Original message from: Joel S. Berson, Wed 11/9/2011 8:20 PM
>>>> <snip>
>>>> I think I heard Cain say "I've never acted inappropriate [yes, adj.]
>>>> with anyone, period."  But I'm too lazy to investigate.
>>>> <snip>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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