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

[Jonathan Lighter]

And "get the horn" would send the wrong message.

JL

On Fri, Mar 20, 2015 at 8:03 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: Read: "He was then killed..."
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> > On Mar 20, 2015, at 7:45 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >=20
> > "by a cow of his father's _horning_ him."
> >=20
> > I heard the relevant saying first from Ivan Sag (R.I.P.) in the form,
> >=20
> > "Fuck with the bull and you _get horned_."
> >=20
> > Every other time that I've heard it, it has been in the form,
> >=20
> > "Fuck/Mess with a/the bull and you _get the horns_."
> >=20
> > 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.
> >=20
> > 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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