"of which...of"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Jerry Cohen asks me to forward the following:


> From: Cohen, Gerald Leonard
> Sent: Friday, May 18, 2012 8:27 AM
> To: American Dialect Society
> Subject: RE: "of which...of" (a blend)
>
> This is almost certainly a blend from:
> "the cause of which the early mariner was still ignorant"
> plus
> "the cause which the early mariner was still ignorant of."
>
> Gerald Cohen
>
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of
> Jonathan Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM]
> Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2012 6:18 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: "of which...of"
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      "of which...of"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Unless I miss my guess, this truly nonstandard construction is usually
> associated with latter-day neophyte writers.
>
> However, here's a 1928 ex. from an academic writer that sailed through
> copy-editing. I assume it was a slip of the pen:
>
>
> 1928 Angelo S. Rappoport _Superstitions of Sailors_ (London: S. Paul) vii:
>  It may be attributed to three sources, viz.: Firstly, the interpretation
> and explanation of numerous phenomena actually observed, but the cause of
> which the early mariner was still ignorant of.
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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