another early figurative "pinata"

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Sun Jun 22 18:13:20 UTC 2014


A dozen years ago, Larry posted a 1995 "walking pinata." That ex., from the
NY Times, retained the notion of a pinata as containing prizes
(specifically money in this case).

Here's a slightly later one which may still retain such overtones. Rich but
bruised Sean Penn is complaining desperately that people keep chasing him
and beating him up to get money out of him:

1997John D. Brancato & Michael Ferris _The Game_  (film) : I'm like a human
pinata!

But the on-screen effect of the remark is to emphasize the bashing rather
than the wealth.

JL

-- 
"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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list