Subject: Re: "Negro with two g's"

[Joel S. Berson]

Larry, thanks for reminding me of this.  It explains all the
discussion about "Negro with two g's".

Joel

At 3/10/2013 02:48 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>...
>
>Shades of Lewis Carroll--
>
>[The White Knight offers to sing Alice a song and explains that "the
>name of the song is called `Haddock's Eyes'", leading to this conversation:]
>
>"Oh, that's the name of the song, is it?" Alice said, trying to feel
>interested.
>"No, you don't understand," the Knight said, looking a little vexed.
>"That's what the name is called. The name really is `The Aged Aged Man.'"
>"Then I ought to have said `That's what the song is called'?" Alice
>corrected herself.
>"No, you oughtn't: that's quite another thing! The song is called
>`Ways and Means'; but that's only what it's called, you know!"
>"Well, what is the song, then?" said Alice, who was by this time
>completely bewildered.
>"I was coming to that," the Knight said. "The song really is
>`A-sitting On A Gate....'"
>
>LH
> >
> >
> >>
> >> From: "Joel S. Berson"
> >> American Dialect Society
> >> Date: Sun, 10 Mar 2013 00:43:26 -0500
> >>
> >>
> >> Does "metonymy" fit in here anywhere?  I ask because I live
> >> in Menotomy.  (No, not in Monotony.)
> >>
> >> Joel
> >>
> >> At 3/9/2013 09:29 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
> >>> On Mar 9, 2013, at 2:13 PM, Geoffrey Nunberg wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> *PS It doesn't seem quite right to describe phrases like "the
> >>> N-word" as euphemisms, though that usage seems to be pervasive
> >>> (see, e.g., the Wikipedia entry for "nigger"). To say that "A" is a
> >>> euphemism for "B" is to say that A denotes politely what B denotes
> >>> rudely, but in this case the words are not co-extensive: "A"
> >>> denotes "B" not B's.  Is there a name for this type of expression?
> >>>>
> >>> Well, increasingly it does seem to be used to denote B's, maybe
> >>> because of the inevitable confusion of use and mention, maybe
> >>> because of exigency/taboo avoidance:  "X called Y an/the N-word"
> >>> seems to function exactly like any other god-fearing euphemism,
> >>> although to be sure in other contexts "the N-word" is used to refer
> >>> to the word, not its referent.  I guess the real shift from
> >>> whatever-we-call-it to a true euphemism would be when X can actually
> >>> hurl "You N-word" at Y as an epithet.  I wouldn't be surprised to
> >>> learn that this transition has already been made.
> >>>
> >>> LH
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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