[Ads-l] "said no X ever"

[Laurence Horn]

Right; I too first encountered it on those Weekend Update segments, as I mentioned back in ’13 and Ben confirmed in the thread linked earlier, citing Amy Poehler:
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2013-March/126378.html

But it has spread into commercials and such.

LH

> On Jun 28, 2017, at 12:23 AM, Peter Reitan <pjreitan at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> I associate the form with bits on SNL "news".
> ________________________________
> From: Laurence Horn<mailto:laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Sent: ‎6/‎27/‎2017 8:48
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: "said no X ever"
> 
> ---------------------- 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: "said no X ever"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
>> On Jun 27, 2017, at 4:48 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> =
> wrote:
>> =20
>> In my experience, moreover, the "ever" often gets emphatic stress.
> 
> I=E2=80=99ve often heard it without any stress on =E2=80=9Cever=E2=80=9D =
> or the rest of the tag.  I assumed the idea was to make it appear like =
> other parenthetical tags=E2=80=94=E2=80=9Csaid my sister=E2=80=9D, =
> =E2=80=9Csaid the Washington Post=E2=80=9D, or whatever=E2=80=94while of =
> course the function is to cancel the entire preceding statement in the =
> manner of retro-NOT or ironic "I *don=E2=80=99t* think=E2=80=9D.  Those =
> last two, on the other hand, are indeed always stressed.
> 
> When it=E2=80=99s a retort rather than a cancellation, so that the =
> utterer of =E2=80=9CSaid no one ever=E2=80=9D is distinct from the =
> utterer of the previous claim, there of course has to be stress, but =
> even then I haven=E2=80=99t noticed that it=E2=80=99s the =E2=80=9Cever=E2=
> =80=9D that gets an unusual amount of stress. =20
> 
> Too bad it appears to be on its way out, so it=E2=80=99s harder to find =
> corroboration or disproof for our competing claims. =20
> 
> LH=20
>> =20
>> =20
>> =20
>> On Mon, Jun 26, 2017 at 9:00 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>> =20
>>> On Mon, Jun 26, 2017 at 4:36 PM, Jonathan Lighter =
> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> =20
>>>> I don't believe I've ever heard it without the emphatic "ever."
>>> =20
>>> =20
>>> I have the same feeling, FWIW. Maybe I've simply never noticed it =
> without
>>> the "ever."
>>> =20
>>> Youneverknow.
>>> =20
>>> =20
>>> --
>>> -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
>>> =20
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>> =20
>> =20
>> =20
>> =20
>> --=20
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the =
> truth."
>> =20
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