[Ads-l] No soap

[Laurence Horn]

> On Sep 4, 2016, at 9:23 AM, Parish, James <jparish at SIUE.EDU> wrote:
> 
> The "Link not found" page has links to recent posts, including "no soap", on the right.
> 
> 
> Jim Parish

Indeed, although no coverage of "No soap--radio".  The wiki-entry for this is reasonably comprehensive, including one version I remember from childhood, involving polar bears in a bathtub.  There was another one involving not a bathtub but icebergs passing each other at the equator, leading inevitably to the punch line.  

LH

> 
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Sunday, September 4, 2016 8:14:14 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: No soap
> 
> The "no soap" link doesn't work for me.
> 
> JL
> 
> On Sun, Sep 4, 2016 at 4:02 AM, Michael Quinion <
> michael.quinion at worldwidewords.org> wrote:
> 
>> Among the pieces posted this weekend to my website is one on the
>> Americanism /no soap/: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.worldwidewords.org_qa_qa-2Dnos1.htmI&d=CwIFAg&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=hO1sOyj2L-_9EXnyT_FqAFAUJL0I_Y7olCO5WmNAiuM&s=8YdP93WLKnhGXGWMejz0noaTrOXd0JE1mycqAFQN7sQ&e=  . I
>> suggest an origin among US Navy recruits during the First World War. (A
>> couple of relevant citations antedating the OED are included in the piece
>> but I have others on file.) Comments on the suggested origin will be most
>> welcome.
>> 
>> I've also written about the US sense of /nimrod/ as an inept person:
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.worldwidewords.org_qa_qa-2Dnim1.htm&d=CwIFAg&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=hO1sOyj2L-_9EXnyT_FqAFAUJL0I_Y7olCO5WmNAiuM&s=BBRXVJDTEVKTJvhewdPK28ZIzxD19atbxq-wnDK4BRc&e=  . Comments likewise most
>> welcome.
>> 
>> --
>> 
>> Michael Quinion, World Wide Words
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.worldwidewords.org&d=CwIFAg&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=hO1sOyj2L-_9EXnyT_FqAFAUJL0I_Y7olCO5WmNAiuM&s=LGrbwh-8dVqJ4zvcn-bKrl1nxgDw1d2e3T9SoMPAxmQ&e= 
>> 
>> 
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>> 
> 
> 
> 
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
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> The American Dialect Society - https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.americandialect.org&d=CwIFAg&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=hO1sOyj2L-_9EXnyT_FqAFAUJL0I_Y7olCO5WmNAiuM&s=MF9BIotSuaOnOUsajsfYHVEiIqvNUC4htwlLlXl9RUA&e= 

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