[Ads-l] _shlong_ and the collective etymological unconscious

Wilson Gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Thu Dec 29 20:21:18 UTC 2016


On Thu, Dec 29, 2016 at 3:03 PM, Baker, John <JBAKER at stradley.com> wrote:

> Possibly influenced by the racehorse Dutch Bluster, who was active from
> 1894 to 1899, although it's not clear the horse would still have been
> remembered in 1946, when the story was written.


If the horse was remembered, though, it clarifies the use of quotes. Nobody
writes _Dutch courage_ as "Dutch courage," after all. The quotes would be a
signal to the reader that the writer was punning: Dutch Bluster X Dutch
courage.

Of course, that's just a WAG.

Youneverknow.
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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