George Lakoff (and others) on "foodie"

[Geoffrey Steven Nathan]

I agree with Larry's intuition that the -ie suffix is not the hypocoristic suffix in 'Suzie'. It strikes me as more like 'Yalie'--with some kind of enthusiast connotation. Like Larry I can't think of other examples, but COCA probably has some. Don't have time right now to construct the right kind of search. 

Geoff 

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

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

> From: "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Sent: Tuesday, July 1, 2014 9:21:00 AM
> Subject: George Lakoff (and others) on "foodie"

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> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject: George Lakoff (and others) on "foodie"
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> h=
> ttp://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/01/opinion/beyond-foodie-its-about-our-value=
> s.html
> [see embedded link for the Mark Bittman op-ed at issue]

> Note that Lakoff's argument presupposes that the -ie of "foodie" is
> the =
> same suffix that we have in "Barbie", "baggie", "birdie", "hoodie",
> and =
> "selfie", but none of these are quasi-agentives the way "foodie" is,
> and =
> other than the -ie or -y hypocoristic for names (Barbie, Georgie, =
> Billy,..), the others are diminutives for non-human objects. You'd =
> think a more relevant example might be "hippie", "Yippee", or even =
> "commie", where an Xie is someone adhering to the X philosophy or an
> =
> aficionado/true-believer in X. (There are probably other examples I'm
> =
> not remembering. Anyone else?) These may well be trivializing, but =
> it's not just the -ie form that's responsible for trivializing and =
> pejoration; we've spent some time knocking around the -er of
> "truther", =
> "birther", etc. for 'adherent of the X conspiracy', also . I agree
> with =
> the following letter suggesting that "foodist" might be the best
> choice, =
> unless it's too reminiscent of "nudist" (given the rhyme) or
> "naturist".=20=

> L

> P.S. I guess an anti- might also try "foodite", as in Trotskyite (vs.
> =
> neutral "Trotskyist"), but that sounds too much like a chemical
> additive =
> that foodies would resist.=

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