[Ads-l] blood in one's eye; hormonal; to "late-night angry-tweet"

Sun Aug 9 19:24:24 UTC 2015

Not that Eric Erickson, who "disinvited" Trump (as they're saying), is a
sensitive semantic pussycat:

http://www.macon.com/2009/05/05/704937/erick-erickson-sends-vulgar-message.html

(To "disinvite":  OED,  "Obs.," a1641 & 1665.)

JL

On Sun, Aug 9, 2015 at 11:18 AM, Joel Berson <berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Joel Berson <berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: blood in one's eye; hormonal; to "late-night angry-tweet"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Comments interspersed.
>
>
>
> Joel
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU=20
> Sent: Sunday, August 9, 2015 10:24 AM
> Subject: [ADS-L] blood in one's eye; hormonal; to "late-night angry-tweet"
>
>
> I can't find this familiar idiom in OED, but 30 seconds of research finds
> a=
> n 1800 ex. in GB.
>
> It mean's, of course, "intent on killing; (hence) intent on victory,
> reveng=
> e, etc."
>
> For those who've been visiting the off-world colonies, Donald Trump told
> CN=
> N Friday that, when questioning him in the debate, Megyn Kelly "had blood
> c=
> oming out of her eyes, coming out of her...wherever."
>
>
> JSB:=C2=A0 I'm reassured to see that Jon, or whom he's quoting, also has
> th=
> e pause.
>
> What Trump may have meant by "wherever" is now the hottest political topic
> in America. It's completely overshadowing the issue of whether it's
> presidential to fulminate a leading journalist for asking an embarrassing
> question on TV - and calling her in tweets and retweets a "bimbo,"=C2=A0
> th=
> e
> "biggest loser of the night," "astonishingly biased," and "funny to watch."
>
> Trump has also tweeted and repeated that only a "deviant" or a "sick
> person" would interpret what he didn't say as referring to Kelly's, er, you
> know.=C2=A0 He says he was thinking "ears" or "nose" but decided (wisely)
> t=
> o
> move on.
>
> (At least it's good to know that *I'm* not "sick" or a "deviant," since the
> gross menopausal interpretation did not occur to me.=C2=A0 Nor, if you can
> believe them, did it occur to my wife or to my two old grad school buddies
> who've spent their careers in the law. Are they putting me on?)
>
>
> JSB:=C2=A0 I'm also reassured (confirmed in my self-esteemation?) that I
> mu=
> st be sick or deviant, since the menopausal interpretation immediately
> occu=
> rred to me, especially with the pause.=C2=A0 It may have also occurred to
> t=
> he Boston Globe, since in its quotation of Trump's "blood" utterance it
> did=
>  not go on from "blood coming out of her eyes" to include "coming out of
> he=
> r ... wherever."=C2=A0=20
>
>
> JSB:=C2=A0 It clearly occurred to some on the NYTimes -- online today,
> JONA=
> THAN MARTIN and MAGGIE HABERMAN include the "wherever", although without
> it=
> s pause.=C2=A0 They are direct, uttering the M-word in their very first
> sen=
> tence -- "Donald J. Trump=E2=80=99s suggestion that a Fox News journalist
> h=
> ad questioned him forcefully at the Republican presidential debate because
> =
> she was menstruating cost him a speaking slot Saturday night at an
> influent=
> ial gathering of conservatives in Atlanta."=C2=A0=C2=A0 (I don't find the
> "=
> blood" quote in the online Times earlier than today.=C2=A0 Perhaps on
> Satur=
> day it was uncertain about Trump's intent, or was too afraid of offending.)
>
> JSB:=C2=A0 P.S.:=C2=A0 I don't believe Jon's wife or his two grad school
> (m=
> ale?) buddies.=C2=A0 I think they were trying to give him the impression
> th=
> at they, like he, are not "sick".=C2=A0 :-)
>
>
> But the second linguistic point is Trump's assertion that "blood coming
> out=
>  of [one's] eyes" is a "very common expression." (He repeated it today
> with=
>  "...pouring..."
>
> News to me.=C2=A0 Is it a rare eggcorn for "blood in=C2=A0 one's eye," or
> i=
> s it really a "very common" eggcorn?
>
>
> JSB:=C2=A0 I did take "coming out of" as equivalent to "in" (what was "in"
> =
> is so copious it's overflowing), and I suspect Donald chose "coming" to
> par=
> allel his later "coming out of ... wherever".
>
> II
> The mediopolitical word of the weekend is "hormonal."=C2=A0 It has been
> sai=
> d
> again and again that Trump meant Kelly was "hormonal" for asking him why he
> has berated certain women who disagree with him as "fat pigs," "dogs," and
> "animals." (Part 2 of the question was how Trump might defend himself
> against Clintonian charges that he is "part of the War on Women)."
>
> The new sense of "hormonal"=C2=A0 - 'affected by menopause; (hence) in a
> fo=
> ul or=20
> aggressive mood' - isn't in OED *or* HDAS.
>
>
> JSB:=C2=A0 "Hormonal" seems to be the news media's euphemism for
> "menstrual=
> " (meaning "bloody"; although I don't see exactly this meaning in the
> OED).=
> =C2=A0 And as readily interpretable as The Donald's "wherever."
>
> ...
>
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