[Ads-l] "eat, breathe, and sleep"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Two unlikelies do not make a likely.

Besides, I know all about that answer because I first heard it from Dickie
Novogrodsky in seventh grade in 1960.

And it isn't unlikely at all. Indeed, the paronomastic requirements of the
Modern English conundrum (etymology unknown) in combination with the
limited universe of Modern English semantic possibilities make it all but
inevitable.

Perhaps the word you meant was "unexpected."

But an unexpected plus a neutral (the appearance of "eat," "breathe," and
"sleep" in a quite different context elsewhere) does not make a likely
either.

JL

On Sat, Apr 11, 2015 at 9:40 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "eat, breathe, and sleep"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> > On Apr 11, 2015, at 8:41 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> =
> wrote:
> >=20
> > Seems unlikely to me.
>
> Indeed, but the answer I recall to the Mad Hatter's question is also =
> unlikely:  because Poe wrote on both.
>
> LH
> >=20
> >=20
> >=20
> > On Sat, Apr 11, 2015 at 1:52 PM, Michael Everson =
> <everson at evertype.com>
> > wrote:
> >=20
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> -----------------------
> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster:       Michael Everson <everson at EVERTYPE.COM>
> >> Subject:      Re: "eat, breathe, and sleep"
> >>=20
> >> =
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> -----
> >>=20
> >> On 11 Apr 2015, at 12:04, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> =3D=
>
> >> wrote:
> >>=20
> >>> 'To be entirely dedicated to.'
> >>> =3D20
> >>> Quite familiar to me for decades. Not in OED.
> >>> =3D20
> >>> TV promo: "Amy eats, breathes, and sleeps Beauty!"
> >>> =3D20
> >>> 1952 _Pottstown [Pa.] Mercury_ (June 13) 8: Conner is labor's man. =
> He =3D
> >> has
> >>> espoused the cause of organized labor since his early youth. It is =
> his
> >>> life, a subject he eats, breathes and sleeps in addition to working =
> at
> >>> constantly.
> >>=20
> >> Likely inspiration:
> >>=20
> >> The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he SAID =
> =3D
> >> was, "Why is a raven like a writing-desk?"
> >>=20
> >> "Come, we shall have some fun now!" thought Alice. "I'm glad they've =
> =3D
> >> begun asking riddles.--I believe I can guess that," she added aloud.
> >>=20
> >> "Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?" said =
> the =3D
> >> March Hare.
> >>=20
> >> "Exactly so," said Alice.
> >>=20
> >> "Then you should say what you mean," the March Hare went on.
> >>=20
> >> "I do," Alice hastily replied; "at least--at least I mean what I =3D
> >> say--that's the same thing, you know."
> >>=20
> >> "Not the same thing a bit!" said the Hatter. "You might just as well =
> say =3D
> >> that 'I see what I eat' is the same thing as 'I eat what I see'!"
> >>=20
> >> "You might just as well say," added the March Hare, "that 'I like =
> what I =3D
> >> get' is the same thing as 'I get what I like'!"
> >>=20
> >> "You might just as well say," added the Dormouse, who seemed to be =3D
> >> talking in his sleep, "that 'I breathe when I sleep' is the same =
> thing =3D
> >> as 'I sleep when I breathe'!"
> >>=20
> >> "It IS the same thing with you," said the Hatter, and here the =3D
> >> conversation dropped, and the party sat silent for a minute, while =
> Alice =3D
> >> thought over all she could remember about ravens and writing-desks, =3D=
>
> >> which wasn't much.
> >>=20
> >>=20
> >> Michael Everson * =
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttp-3A__www.evertype.com_&d=3D=
> AwIBaQ&c=3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=3DwFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZR=
> sMFFaLQ&m=3DqQkISOSi6hEBqC8U9kDWbofAMWS7luc-h1ePPKoiaLI&s=3DNsYjxzI-s4ObYy=
> uRJRqTE_Rw5gtFSCHgULn3uTwCeDE&e=3D=20
> >>=20
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - =
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> >>=20
> >=20
> >=20
> >=20
> > --=20
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the =
> truth."
> >=20
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-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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