[Ads-l] Heard on the radio

[David Barnhart]

I'm inclined to agree.  Announcers at sporting events often find themselves
in the midst of a descriptive phrase (idiom or not) and try to spice it up
with a term that is of "shadowy" fit.

DKB

barnhart at highlands.com

-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Dan Goncharoff
Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2015 5:26 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Heard on the radio

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Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Heard on the radio
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I guess what struck me as odd about the phrase is that it is not necessarily
an idiom. A boxer may kill his opponent. It felt like the announcer had to
add SOMETHING to qualify "going in for the kill", and 'proverbial' was the
word chosen, but not because it was correct.

DanG

On Wed, Apr 1, 2015 at 5:17 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Heard on the radio
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
>
> > On Apr 1, 2015, at 5:06 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >=20
> > during an ad for boxing on CBS, there was a commentary from a 
> >previous
> > fight:
> > "...going in for the 'proverbial' kill"
> >=20
> > Doesn't 'proverbial' require an actual proverb?
>
> as in "kicked the proverbial bucket":=20 I think "proverbial" in such 
> case basically =3D 'idiomatic' and such = adverbs tend to lower into 
> the idiom as adjectives
>
> LH
> >=20
> > I guess it sounds better than 'idiomatic' kill"...
> >=20
> > DanG
> >=20
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