[Ads-l] Read: "He was then killed..."

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Sat Mar 21 00:03:47 UTC 2015


> On Mar 20, 2015, at 7:45 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> "by a cow of his father's _horning_ him."
> 
> I heard the relevant saying first from Ivan Sag (R.I.P.) in the form,
> 
> "Fuck with the bull and you _get horned_."
> 
> Every other time that I've heard it, it has been in the form,
> 
> "Fuck/Mess with a/the bull and you _get the horns_."
> 
> I've preferred Ivan's version because of his cool use of "horn" as a verb
> beyond the phrase, "horn in." Apparently, "horn" as a verb is *not* unique
> to that sayer in that saying.
> 
> Youneverknow.

Yes, "horn" is a very versatile word indeed.  We're proud of it.  (Besides, the "fuck with the bull and you get the horns" version sounds too much like an aphoristic warning about cuckoldry.)

LH

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