Fictional Materials for OED

[Jonathan Lighter]

CNN this a.m.: "The technology does not exist! It's made of unobtainium!"

JL


On Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 11:38 AM, Robin Hamilton <
robin.hamilton2 at btinternet.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Robin Hamilton <robin.hamilton2 at BTINTERNET.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Fictional Materials for OED
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>             "Don't truth me."
>
> Def:  Don't force on my attention an inconvenient truth.
>
> Source:  Vonnegut, Kurt. _The Sirens of Titan_. New York: Delacorte Press,
> 1959.
>
> Not noted in UrbanDictionary.
>
> <<
> "Don't truth me," said Boaz in his thoughts, "and I won't truth you." It
> was
> a plea he had made
> several times to Unk.
> Boaz had invented the plea, and its meaning was this: Unk was to stop
> telling Boaz truths
> about the harmoniums, because Boaz loved the harmoniums, and because Boaz
> was nice enough
> not to bring up truths that would make Unk unhappy.
> >>
>
> Most of the google hits, and all of the gogglebooks hits, refer back
> directly or indirectly to Vonnegut, so the phrase may not be completely
> feral.
>
> Robin Hamilton
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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