Whooping, but not with an extension cord
Joel S. Berson
Berson at ATT.NET
Sun Sep 14 02:46:45 UTC 2014
From a front-page article on the indictment of Minnesota running
back Adrian Peterson for child abuse (in print as "N.F.L. Rocked
Again as Star Faces a Child Abuse Charge", by Steve Eder and Pat
Borzi, Sept. 13; the on-line version is redacted):
"Peterson told the police that he would give 'whoopings' to his son
for misbehavior, the [police] report said, according to CBS Houston.
But Peterson denied that he had ever used extension cords. 'Oh, no,
I'd never hit my child with an extension cord. I remember how it
feels to get whooped with an extension cord. I'd never do that'."
Not anything at all, I suppose, like his getting whooped by fans
after a particularly spectacular play on the field, or a performer by
the audience at a popular music concert.
Unless, of course, "whooping" is a mistranscription by the police of
Peterson's oral "whupping", or his pronunciation of "whipping".
Joel
------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
More information about the Ads-l
mailing list