[Ads-l] Facebook: "to cop-kill"

[Laurence Horn]

> On Feb 20, 2016, at 9:32 AM, Neal Whitman <nwhitman at ameritech.net> wrote:
> 
> Interesting. From the subject-line, I'd've thought "cop-kill" would mean "kill a cop." I think the analysis here should be (cop (kill ed)) rather than ((cop kill) ed). In other words, I don't think we have a two-part backformed verb here yet, and if we did, it would mean "kill a cop."
> 
> Neal

Agreed.  It's more like "That shirt can be machine-washed", where the incorporated noun is an instrument or "That building is owner-occupied" or "Those pickles were hipster-curated" where it's an agent.  Even though in principle "to cop-kill" (or nominalized as in "Cop-killing is frowned on") would normally be interpreted as incorporating a patient/object, in the context below, where the patient is specified and/or passive voice is used, the agentive interpretation isn't impossible.  "To machine-wash" or "machine washing" can be interpreted either way (vs. "to car-wash"), but "(that shirt) being machine-washed" is unambiguous.  

LH
> 
>> On Feb 20, 2016, at 12:46 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>> 
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Facebook: "to cop-kill"
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> "... the chances of some young innocent _being cop killed_ are a lot lower."
>> 
>> -- 
>> -Wilson
>> -----
>> 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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