[Ads-l] Media Inquiry (Mike Pence calling his wife "Mother")

[Laurence Horn]

But these threads (at least Quora) do tend to conflate the cases that need to be kept distinct:  reference (who you’re talking about) vs. address (who you’re talking to), and with children in hearing range (kitchen) or not (bedroom).  The “creepy” dimension only comes into play with address with no children present (e.g. when they’re off in college).

LH

> On Feb 3, 2017, at 3:08 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Here are pointers to pertinent discussion threads (raw data) on
> Straight Dope and Quora.
> 
> Thread title: Do you call your wife, mother?
> Thread beginning timestamp: 07-20-2004, 04:49 PM
> http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=267438
> 
> Thread title: Marriage: Why do husbands call their wives mommy?
> Thread beginning date: circa Feb 22, 2016
> https://www.quora.com/Marriage-Why-do-husbands-call-their-wives-mommy
> 
> Garson
> 
> 
> On Fri, Feb 3, 2017 at 3:05 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Fri, Feb 3, 2017 at 12:34 PM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at mst.edu>
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> Was this ever a common use of the word?
>> 
>> 
>> Yes. If one were old enough to listen to the radio and/or to read the
>> funnies and/or go to the movies during the '40's, then one would have a
>> clear memory of it.
>> 
>> How soon they forget!
>> --
>> -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
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org