Queries About Colorful Expressions

Wed Nov 20 21:57:28 UTC 2013

For the definitive (?!) treatment of that category of expressions, one may read my essay "Bears in the Woods and Catholic Popes: Historical Observations on Sarcastic Interrogatives," in a collection of my kleine Schriften titled _Doing Proverbs and Other Kinds of Folklore_ (2012).  There the essay is (largely) reprinted from _Western Folklore_ 67 (2008) 5-33.
________________________________________

Poster:       "Mullins, Bill CIV (US)"
Subject:      Re: Queries About Colorful Expressions
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> DAD:  "Is the Pope Catholic?  Does a bear shit in the woods?
> WB:  And the Fromkinesque blend:  <<Does the Pope shit in the woods?>>
>

Does the Pope wear a funny hat?
Does Rose Kennedy have a black dress?
Does a frog have a watertight ass?
Is a pig's pecker pork?
Are a bull's balls beef?

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

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