[Ads-l] Long-haul trucker's lexicon + a surprise

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Fri Jun 2 02:31:45 UTC 2017


> On Jun 1, 2017, at 10:14 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> On Thu, Jun 1, 2017 at 9:22 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> wrote:
> 
>> https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/books/review-long-haul-
>> trucker-memoir-finn-murphy.html
>> 
>> This is Jennifer Senior's review of a book by Finn Murphy, a long haul
>> trucker who reads both Chinese and Jane Austen.  The review touches on
>> various specialized lexical items of the trade Finn wields, several of
>> which are old hat even to inveterate non-truckers like me (“deadheading”,
>> “suicide jockey”), some not so much (“bedbugger”, “chowder”).  You’ll have
>> to read the review to find out what they are.  But my favorite bit, in the
>> light of our recent thread:
>> 
>> =============
>> Nor will I think about the fact that movers sometimes inspect the contents
>> of your boudoir. Murphy’s recommendation: “Salt the lingerie drawer with
>> plastic snakes or a loaded mousetrap.” (Who says the vagina dentata is a
>> myth?)
>> =============
>> 
>> I can only assume that Ms. Senior has been dipping into our list.
>> 
> 
> https://twitter.com/JenSeniorNY/status/870275595095224324
> "I slipped 'vagina dentata' into the New York Times today. My work here is
> done.”
> 
Hah.  And no doubt she’s expecting her reward now.  Let’s see, given that the inflation in the stipend amounts from the regular tooth fairy—"According to Delta Dental’s 13th annual Tooth Fairy survey, cash payouts have soared during the past year to an all-time high average of $4.66, good for a 75-cent increase from 2015” (https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2017/02/24/survey-tooth-fairys-2016-cash-payouts-hit-all-time-high/98249346/)—one can only imagine how much this will be worth.

LH

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