[Ads-l] locomotives as female

Sun Apr 19 13:02:49 UTC 2015

> On Apr 19, 2015, at 12:43 AM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Not to mention, I guess, since you didn't, "A Kiss In The Tunnel", the 1899
> film that started the cliche.

(Well, I sort of did indirectly at the link below.  It's a fun piece.

LH)

> On Apr 18, 2015 8:50 PM, "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> 
>> ---------------------- 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: locomotives as female
>> 
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>>> On Apr 18, 2015, at 4:52 PM, Joel Berson <berson at ATT.NET> wrote:
>>> =20
>>> "North by Northwest", 1959.
>>> =20
>> 
>> I was thinking Hitchcock, but probably just remembering that one.  "The =
>> Lady Eve" is another according to this page:
>> 
>> =
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__whitecitycinema.com_2014_07_14_adventures-2Din-2Dearly-2Dmovies-2Da-2Dkiss-2Din-3D&d=AwIBaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=FvKwgiV9tLPuUQU8XmUyrYfUrAtPQ3V4Q-TCM2t4QA0&s=1vPKNEj1tP1e1f4ZtzNblwEWKIAoy7HcBFC2f_MhxU0&e= 
>> -the-tunnel/
>> 
>> Shots of trains entering tunnels would, after all, eventually become the =
>> crudest and most obvious sexual metaphor in all of cinema (as seen in =
>> The Lady Eve, North By Northwest, The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear =
>> and countless other movies).=20
>> 
>> (Naked Gun and Monty Python etc. don't really count; what we're looking =
>> for are serious, although not necessarily creative, uses of the =
>> metaphor/trope.)  If there are countless ones, that implies more than =
>> two.  I think there may have been a semi-serious (or at least =
>> non-spoofing) use in one of the Nick 'n' Nora Thin Man mysteries, but I =
>> may be misremembering.
>> 
>> LH
>> 
>>> I think some well-known spoof movie spoofing other movies has a "train =
>> entering a tunnel" scene, together with several other metaphors.  It's =
>> so well known that, as Yogi might say, everyone, including me, has =
>> forgotten its name.
>>> But are those the only two?
>>> Joel
>>>     From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU=20
>>> Sent: Saturday, April 18, 2015 4:09 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [ADS-L] locomotives as female
>>> =20
>>> Could you give the titles of some of those movies, Larry?
>>> =20
>>> I've often wondered just how true that claim was.
>>> =20
>>> BTW, engineer George Alley, in "The Wreck on the C&O Road"  (ca1895)  =
>> says,
>>> "I want to die with the engine I love,/ One hundred and forty-three."
>>> =20
>>> JL
>>> =20
>>> =20
>>> JL
>>> =20
>>> =20
>>> =20
>>> On Fri, Apr 17, 2015 at 10:40 AM, Laurence Horn =
>> <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
>>> wrote:
>>> =20
>>>> ---------------------- 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: locomotives as female
>>>> =20
>>>> =
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------=
>> -----
>>>> =20
>>>> Right, you just have to make sure it's not a locomotif.
>>>> =20
>>>> (Of course the younger generations haven't been raised on all those =
>> old =3D
>>>> movies in which love scenes pan to shots of trains entering =
>> tunnels.)=3D20
>>>> =20
>>>> LH
>>>> =20
>>>>> On Apr 17, 2015, at 11:19 AM, Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at GMAIL.COM> =3D
>>>> wrote:
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> My nephew, who is a great train buff, the other day referred to a
>>>>> locomotive as "her."  I asked about the gender, and he said it's
>>>>> conventional to refer to locomotives as feminine.
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> New one for me.
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> Herb
>>>>> =3D20
>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>> The American Dialect Society - =3D
>>>> =
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3D3Dhttp-3A__www.americandialec=
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>> org&d=3D3DAwIBaQ&c=3D3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=3D3DwFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0Z=
>> pW1TsS=3D
>>>> =
>> xPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=3D3D6Q-FGDJbyvUiTHu4rn9ypnk_j9QoowM6JqVHH1aFUv0&s=3D3DAS=
>> BhwP=3D
>>>> LPJEsHAddDAdrb40ks2269RERPyr_7twbWqx8&e=3D3D=3D20
>>>> =20
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>> DL_xmFskBRDwZCGLoaYnBqCEfHjc7ZDxAXdio&e=3D=20
>>>> =20
>>> =20
>>> =20
>>> =20
>>> --=20
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