Another headline

[David Barnhart]

In the sense of "intolerable" see eOED 5b(a): 

b. too much (as predicate):  (a) more than can be endured, intolerable: also
too much of a good thing;  (b) orig. U.S., excellent, first-rate; too much
for: more than a match for; such as to overcome or subdue: so too many for
(see many adj. 3d), too hard for, etc. Chiefly colloq.

1533   J. Heywood Mery Play Iohan Iohan sig. B.iv,   Shall we al way syt
here styll we two. Yt were to mych.
1692   R. L'Estrange Fables xxxv. 35   They come to Vie Power and Expence
with Those that are too High and too many for them.
1708   Deplorable State New Eng. 16 in S. Sewall's Diary (1879) II. 114*
Your Governour..has been too many for you.
1723   D. Defoe Hist. Col. Jack (ed. 2) 378   We were too many for them, for
we run out our Guns..and..they retir'd.
1781   R. B. Sheridan Trip to Scarborough v. ii,   Don't be frightened, we
shall be too hard for the rogue.
1787   'G. Gambado' Acad. Horsemen 13   Should your horse prove, what is
properly termed too many for you, and make off.
1794   A. Radcliffe Myst. of Udolpho I. ix. 251   The sight of this poor old
woman would have been too much for Emily.
1796   F. Burney Camilla I. ii. v. 233   O too much! too much! there is no
standing it!
1809   S. Smith Wks. (1867) I. 175   This (to use a very colloquial phrase)
is surely too much of a good thing.
1832   H. Martineau Life in Wilds v,   The light had been too much for him.
1861   Dickens Great Expectations III. ix. 148   Mr. Jaggers was altogether
too many for the Jury, and they gave in.
1863   J. C. Jeaffreson Sir Everard's Daughter 113   You can't rob me-I am
too many for you..! You're a clever one-but you're no match for me.
1872   C. Hardwick Trad. Lancs. 189   On one occasion, however, the fiends
were nearly 'too many' for the eternal toiler.
1937   Metronome Mar. 55/1   Man, if you didn't you really missed something.
That man's too much! What great bass drum work he shows.
1958   G. Lea Somewhere there's Music xviii. 155,   I want to make it to the
City... Man, like the City is too much-and that's where I want to be.
1966   Melody Maker 15 Oct. 19,   I just can't wait for his Spring return
with Earl Hines, Budd Johnson and the rest. This could be too much.
1967   J. Morgan Involved 51   You were too much tonight..the way you leaned
on Tuttles, that was really something.
1968   Scottish Daily Mail 3 Jan. 6   They got 'Absolutely divine'; we get
'Too much'... One day 'Too much' will sound as old fashioned as 'ripping'.

-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Laurence Horn
Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2014 11:01 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Another headline

---------------------- Information from the mail header
-----------------------
Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Another headline
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---

Wasn't Wilson just suggestion that "too much [of X]" is ipso fact a bad =
thing for any X, whether X is corporate influence, dark chocolate, or = good
sex?  Sorry if I'm missing something here.

LH

On Oct 9, 2014, at 10:03 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

> I don't object too much to the phrasing (only to any corporate =
influence on public policy).  In a democracy there are various interest =
groups, each with its own ideas of what would be good policy.  (In the =
18th century they were called "parties", and deprecated as undesirable = in
a republic -- but those were the days when the "common good" was the =
desideratum.)  So some influence from each of the interests is = acceptable.
>=20
> Joel
>=20
> At 10/8/2014 08:46 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>=20
>> "Is too much corporate influence on public policy a bad thing?"
>>=20
>> Does that question make sense? If corporate influence on public =
policy is a
>> *good* thing, then how can there be too much corporate influence? If, 
>> =
OTOH,
>> corporate influence on public policy is a *bad* thing, then why isn't 
>> =
any
>> corporate influence at all a bad thing?
>>=20
>> Am I just plain stupid?
>>=20
>> Youneverknow.
>> --
>> -Wilson
>> -----
>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint 
>>=
to
>> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> -Mark Twain
>>=20
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>=20
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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

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