[Ads-l] inplausible

Fri Dec 12 02:06:17 UTC 2014

Ben is almost certainly correct, because, among the internet crowd I hang out with, the Simpsons is often a source of ironic commentary. For example, Ms. Lovejoy's 'Won't somebody please think of the children...' 

And many more... 
Thanks, I haven't watched enough Simpsons to collect all the buzzwords. 

Geoffrey S. Nathan 
Faculty Liaison, C&IT 
and Professor, Linguistics Program 
http://blogs.wayne.edu/proftech/ 
+1 (313) 577-1259 (C&IT) 

Nobody at Wayne State will EVER ask you for your password. Never send it to anyone in an email, no matter how authentic the email looks. 

----- Original Message -----

> From: "Ben Zimmer" <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2014 3:19:33 PM
> Subject: Re: inplausible

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: inplausible
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> On Thu, Dec 11, 2014 at 3:14 PM, Geoff Nathanwrote:
> >
> > Related, perhaps, is that I frequently see 'unpossible'.
> >
> > Always ironically (with meaning: 'I had been promised/I promised
> > that X would never happen, even though any rational person could
> > have predicted that it would')

> I would wager that many of those ironists are quoting the great Ralph
> Wiggum.

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzyCi1BFATA
> http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Simpsons/Season_6#Lisa_on_Ice

> --bgz

> --
> Ben Zimmer
> http://benzimmer.com/

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

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