[Ads-l] shocked = 'pleasantly surprised'

[Dan Goncharoff]

Didn't this ship sail a while ago?

DanG
PortSide NewYork
www.portsidenewyork.org
On Jun 18, 2016 4:41 PM, "Jonathan Lighter" <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Ah, but your adduced exx. suggest that you recognize subliminally that
> this usage is a little weird, especially in this instance.
>
> Possibly you'll be more impressed when I say that "positive _shock_"
> is now everywhere in the media.
>
> JL
>
> On Sat, Jun 18, 2016 at 4:20 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> wrote:
> >> On Jun 18, 2016, at 3:27 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> A lady in a commercial has just had her DNA tested so as to discover
> >> her true essence.
> >>
> >> "The most shocking result was I'm 26% Native American!"
> >>
> >> Time was that would have been an obviously racist remark.
> >>
> >> JL
> >
> > Couldn't "shocked" here just be 'very surprised', without affective
> content as to pleasantly or not, with the affect coming from the context?
> I could imagine, for example, Mets' fans in 1969, or U.S. hockey fans in
> 1980, describing themselves as being shocked, as well as delighted, at the
> unexpected (or shocking) results.
> >
> > Here are a few Google hits (found by googling "I'm shocked that we won")
> that sound natural enough to me:
> >
> > ====================
> > Esquire's editor in chief, David Granger, said: "I thought we had a
> chance to win one [publishing award, in 2004], but I'm shocked that we won
> four."
> >
> > "Findlay's a great team," Burnham said, "I'm shocked that we won as
> easily as we won, but I'm proud of the way our girls played."
> > [coach of girls' high school volleyball team]
> >
> > “I'm shocked that we won, considering all of the amazing films on the
> roster this year.” said Cordero.
> > [film-maker whose "Inside a Change" won Best Picture at 2009 HBO Latino
> Film Festival]
> >
> > "I'm shocked that we won. Happy, of course, but shocked. The narrative
> will be how the Bengals played down to the level of their competition...but
> credit the defense for playing the way we thought they were capable of and
> essentially shutting down one of the best offenses in the NFL."
> > [Texans fan commenting on blog post after Texans' upset win against the
> Bengals, Nov. 2015]
> > =====================
> >
> > On the assumption (supported by the OED) that originally "shocked"
> always meant 'horrified, upset, scandalized', maybe this is a kind of
> intensifier bleaching, not uncommon (cf. "terrific") although not
> inevitable (cf. "horrific").
> >
> > LH
> >
> >
> >>
> >> On Tue, Feb 26, 2013 at 7:22 AM, Jonathan Lighter
> >> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> >>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> >>> Subject:      Re: shocked = 'pleasantly surprised'
> >>>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>
> >>>> Although youneverknow.
> >>>
> >>> In this case I do know. Intonation - affect - and three of four
> co-yakkers
> >>> agreed that Seth sounded great.
> >>>
> >>> JL
> >>>
> >>> On Mon, Feb 25, 2013 at 8:29 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: shocked = 'pleasantly surprised'
> >>>>
> >>>>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>>
> >>>> On Feb 25, 2013, at 7:15 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>> At 2/25/2013 04:43 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >>>>>> We've mentioned this before, but here's another good one. A yakking
> >>>> head on
> >>>>>> CNN says he was "shocked" to hear Seth McFarlane's singing voice at
> the
> >>>>>> Acade--- I mean at the Oscars.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> So was Claude Rains.  Pleasantly surprised, surprised, I mean.  He
> >>>>> was expecting his winnings shortly.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Joel
> >>>>>
> >>>> Ah, but the good Captain Louie was *pretending* to be unpleasantly
> >>>> surprised, surprised, or even scandalized, scandalized at the
> evidence of
> >>>> gambling.  The CNN guy presumably was not being ironic at the
> evidence of
> >>>> holding a tune.  Although youneverknow.
> >>>>
> >>>> LH
> >>>>
> >>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>>> The American Dialect Society -
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.americandialect.org&d=CwIBaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=yh6LNTvTp_iHRPoH7B-QdRJ-33hJ04kxg-XjEDEzyOk&s=-VjEdVRUL1Sey0vXZghkLI-1jjwdWbx3D1OGWqLu62c&e=
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >>>
> >>> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>> The American Dialect Society -
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.americandialect.org&d=CwIBaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=yh6LNTvTp_iHRPoH7B-QdRJ-33hJ04kxg-XjEDEzyOk&s=-VjEdVRUL1Sey0vXZghkLI-1jjwdWbx3D1OGWqLu62c&e=
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society -
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.americandialect.org&d=CwIBaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=yh6LNTvTp_iHRPoH7B-QdRJ-33hJ04kxg-XjEDEzyOk&s=-VjEdVRUL1Sey0vXZghkLI-1jjwdWbx3D1OGWqLu62c&e=
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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