[Ads-l] fewofa

[Jonathan Lighter]

The inept "correction" in CNN's transcript suggests that the editor could
not comprehend the standard syntax of "in so few words."

http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1501/02/cnr.03.html

"[Mario Cuomo] worked on books on Abraham Lincoln and was amazed that
Lincoln could say so much in the Gettysburg address or emancipation
proclamation and so few words."

JL

On Fri, Jan 2, 2015 at 3:03 PM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at mst.edu>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at MST.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: fewofa
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Looks like a blend: "in so few words" + "in so short of a time" (or
> perhaps=
>  "in so short of a statement/speech").
>
> Gerald Cohen
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On Jan 2, 2015, at 1:00 PM, "Jonathan Lighter" <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> wro=
> te:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------=
> ------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: fewofa
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
> >=20
> >> fewva
> >=20
> > No, I clearly heard the schwa in "of."  Too bad, really.
> >=20
> > JL
> >=20
> > On Fri, Jan 2, 2015 at 12:58 PM, 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: fewofa
> >>=20
> >>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> -------
> >>=20
> >> Seems like Brinkley could have opted for "in so few words" here, but
> I=20
> >> do like "fewofa".  Except maybe it should be "fewva"--I read "fewofa"
> on=
> =20
> >> first pass as if it were Elmer Fudd trying to ask for a felafel.
> >>=20
> >> LH
> >>=20
> >> On Jan 2, 2015, at 10:46 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >>=20
> >>> Historian Douglas Brinkley on CNN:
> >>>=20
> >>> "It's amazing how much Lincoln could say in so few of a words."
> >>>=20
> >>> Let's see if this is corrected in the transcript.
> >>>=20
> >>> JL
> >>> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>=20
> >>=20
> >>=20
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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