New words from Sleepy Hollow

[Laurence Horn]

On Jan 21, 2014, at 12:45 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

> At 1/21/2014 08:46 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>> I meant "little people" in a Casablancan sense.
>>
>> Also, to us New York City natives, "upstate" begins north of the Bronx.
>
> Selfie slap! slap!  How could I have denied my heritage?  I lived in
> the Bronx from childbirth (at least after I left the hospital) until
> I after I graduated from college.  And that too was in NYC.
>
> Joel

JL's dictum is often phrased as "Upstate begins at Yonkers".  At least it's less chauvinist than "Wogs begin at Calais".  (It's more like that New Yorker cover.)

LH
>
>
>> Admittedly, though, Sleepy Hollow ("North Tareytown" till recently) isn't
>> too deep into the wilderness.
>>
>> Which reminds me: a few weeks back it turned out that the lost colony of
>> Roanoke was still functioning in some kind of time warp in the wilderness
>> of a nearby National Park.
>>
>> "So what?" you say.  Here's what: They're still speaking *Middle English*!
>> Fortunately, Ichabod had studied it at Oxford and was fluent, but for the
>> rest of us the show provided full subtitles.
>>
>> What I could understand sounded plausibly like Middle English. But maybe it
>> was just TV pidgin-Middle.
>>
>> Another thesis suggestion from the idea bank.
>>
>> JL
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Jan 20, 2014 at 9:42 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>>
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> > -----------------------
>> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>> > Subject:      Re: New words from Sleepy Hollow
>> >
>> >
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> > At 1/20/2014 08:13 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>> > >Or not so new. Who cares?
>> > >
>> > >It's the TV show about a resurrected Ichabod Crane whose Wiccan wife
>> > >Katrina gives him advice from Purgatory as he tries each week, with foxy
>> > >African-American police detective Abbie Mills, to thwart the demon Moloch
>> > >who's been unleashed on upstate New York
>> >
>> > Seems to be mis-set.  Sleepy Hollow isn't very "upstate".  Although
>> > perhaps Purgatory is.
>> >
>> > >to bring about the End Times with
>> > >help from the Headless Horseman of the Apocalypse - who was "killed"
>> > >fighting for the Brits in the Revolution before *he* was resurrected in
>> > >2013 but luckily George Washington's secretly coded Bible can be used
>> > >against both of them.
>> > >
>> > >Last week:
>> > >
>> > >"A boondoggle is an exercise in futility, a timesuck, a fool's errand."
>> > >
>> > >(So "timesuck" is now thought to be more familiar than "boondoggle."
>> > >400,000 raw Google hits.)
>> > >
>> > >"We weren't exactly besties back then." (Best friends. 2,000,000 raw
>> > >Googlits.)
>> > >
>> > >"We need your A-game!"  (Your best and most comprehensive effort [to beat
>> > >Moloch]. Maybe a hundred thou RG's: hard to search for.)
>> > >
>> > >Next time they may explain why two little people - one of them magically
>> > >resurrected -
>> >
>> > Dutch bowler interlopers from Rip Van Winkle?  Or does "little
>> > people" mean something else?
>> >
>> > Joel
>> >
>> > >trying to stop the Apocalypse with the help of a dead Witch
>> > >isn't blasphemy.
>> > >
>> > >JL
>> >
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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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>
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