"out of" = 'in'

[Laurence Horn]

Is it regional (within the U.S.)?  I remember being struck by the title of Dorothy Allison's best-selling memoir or novel (semi-autobiography?), "Bastard Out of Carolina". (She's from Greenville, SC, and the book is set there as well.)  I couldn't find any "out of" entry in DARE, but I might could have missed it.

LH

On Jan 23, 2014, at 9:14 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> To describe a person as "out of" somewhere instead of "from" it has always
> grated on me. (I have the feeling it went mainstream only around 1980, but
> it's just a feeling. And, yes, I know "aus" is normal in German.)
>
> But at least people (like ships at sea) can move around.
>
> University campuses cannot.
>
> Yet.
>
> JL
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 23, 2014 at 8:57 AM, 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: "out of" = 'in'
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Isn't this also the long-time traditional introduction in (the more
>> standard) boxing matches?  For its meaning, see
>> http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_Fighting_Out_Of_Mean_in_UFC?#slide=1
>>
>> Joel
>>
>> At 1/23/2014 08:22 AM, Charles C Doyle wrote:
>>> In the introduction of pugilists who are about to compete in
>>> "Ultimate Fighting" bouts (we all watch those, don't we?) a fuller
>>> locution is customarily employed, which has struck me as especially
>>> odd.  For example, "Fighting out of Athens, Georgia: Forrest Griffin."
>>>
>>> --Charlie
>>> ________________________________________
>>>
>>>
>>> At 1/22/2014 05:45 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>>> No. Huge difference.
>>>>
>>>> The confident pace and inflection of the spoken utterance conveyed the
>>>> unmistakable idea that "out of Norman" referred to the location of the
>>>> University and not the origin of the story.
>>>>
>>>> Otherwise it would have been customary and journalistically idiomatic to
>>>> have said, "[And now, breaking news] out of Norman, Oklahoma: [a report
>> of]
>>>> shots fired at the University of Oklahoma [there in Norman. That
>> breaking
>>>> news out of Norman, Oklahoma...]."
>>>>
>>>> Few newspeople seem to say "from" anywhere, if they can say "out of."
>>>> That's been true for many years.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> JL
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> CNN reports "shots fired at the University of Oklahoma out of
>> Norman,
>>>>>> Oklahoma
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Hmmm...If you read, "CNN reports, out of Norman, Oklahoma, shots
>> fired at
>>>>> the University of Oklahoma," would you have said anything? Is there a
>>>>> difference?
>>>>>
>>>>> DanG
>>>
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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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