[Ads-l] Pop Goes The Weasel -- (was Re: ejaculatory "pop")

Cohen, Gerald Leonard gcohen at MST.EDU
Mon Mar 13 00:49:30 UTC 2017


Btw, I treated "pop goes the weasel" in the following item:

"'Pop Goes The Weasel' Revisited," Comments on Etymology, vol. 19, issue #7, April 1990,

pp. 28-32.


Gerald Cohen

________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2017 2:07 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: ejaculatory "pop"

---------------------- 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: ejaculatory "pop"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> On Mar 12, 2017, at 1:22 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> =
wrote:
>=20
> Yet even at a time when "pop" often meant "pawn," few people seem to =
have
> subscribed to that interpretation, which is grammatically unlikely: =
"Pawn!
> goes the weasel"?
>=20
> With no context to suggest otherwise, the monkey and weasel in the =
rhyme
> must be taken as actual animals, with the monkey in pursuit, rather =
than
> obscure or mismatched metaphors.
>=20
> Maybe the weasel goes "pop!" because he/she/it is taking off with a =
sudden
> burst of speed. (See OED "pop," adj., 1. But OED, in the same article,
> deff. 2, otherwise declines to explicate the weasel's "pop.=E2=80=9D)

Yes, I agree that OED=E2=80=99s sense 9 is implausible for describing =
the weasel-on-monkey activity alluded to in the verse, unless =E2=80=9Cpaw=
n=E2=80=9D is intended as an attenuated non-rhotic rendering of the =
highly suspect inter-species goings-on behind the convenient cover of =
the mulberry (or carpenter=E2=80=99s bench as the case may be). =20

LH
>=20
>=20
>=20
> On Sun, Mar 12, 2017 at 11:29 AM, Robin Hamilton <
> robin.hamilton3 at virginmedia.com> wrote:
>=20
>> ... and of course, "pop" in that context indicates pawning an item.  =
In
>> this
>> case, Charley Wag rather than Bob's your uncle, as in Henley's =
translation
>> of
>> Villon, in "Villon's Straight Tip To All Cross Coves":  'It's =
up-the-spout
>> and
>> Charley-Wag ...'
>>=20
>> Robin
>>=20
>> (The Wiki entry on Pop Goes the Weasel --
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_Goes_the_Weasel -- is =

Pop Goes the Weasel<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_Goes_the_Weasel>
en.wikipedia.org
“Pop! Goes the Weasel” is an English nursery rhyme and singing game. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 5249. The jack-in-the-box children’s toy often...



comprehensive, and
>> rather good -- someone on this list responsible for the anonymous
>> authorship of
>> the same?  Kudos to whoever.   R.)
>>=20
>>>=20
>>>    On 12 March 2017 at 14:50 Jonathan Lighter =
<wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> wrote:
>>>=20
>>>=20
>>>    "All around the carpenter's bench" is how I learned it.
>>>=20
>>>    JL
>>>=20
>>>    On Sun, Mar 12, 2017 at 10:19 AM, Laurence Horn <
>> laurence.horn at yale.edu>
>>>    wrote:
>>>=20
>>>> And it does add a whole new perspective on that hanky-panky between
>>>> monkey
>>>> and weasel in the neighborhood of that mulberry bush=E2=80=A6
>>>>=20
>>>> LH
>>>>=20
>>>>> On Mar 12, 2017, at 8:48 AM, Jonathan Lighter <
>> wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>>=20
>>>>> There seems to be no way to know, but I'm skeptical. Maybe he's
>> just
>>>>> playing with the senses of "ask" and "explode." Given the
>> context and
>>>>> the
>>>>> vast "antedating," this explanation seems somewhat more
>> reasonable to
>>>>> me.
>>>>>=20
>>>>> OED's initial cite, btw, is from HDAS files.
>>>>>=20
>>>>>=20
>>>>>=20
>>>>> JL
>>>>>=20
>>>>> On Sat, Mar 11, 2017 at 8:21 PM, Joel Berson <berson at att.net>
>> wrote:
>>>>>=20
>>>>>> Well, Arnold -- Larry? Jon? -- what's your evaluation of the
>> 1722
>>>> "pop"?
>>>>>> Was the humorist and satirist Nathaniel Gardner innuendoing
>>>>>> [innuendo,
>>>> v.,
>>>>>> sense 3] ejaculation?
>>>>>>=20
>>>>>> Joel
>>>>>>=20
>>>>>>=20
>>>>>> From: Arnold M. Zwicky <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
>>>>>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>>>>> Sent: Saturday, March 11, 2017 6:09 PM
>>>>>> Subject: [ADS-L] ejaculatory "pop"
>>>>>>=20
>>>>>> citing ADS-L, on my blog:
>>>>>>=20
>>>>>> https://arnoldzwicky.org/2017/03/11/ejaculatory-pop/

[http://arnoldzwicky.s3.amazonaws.com/LAToolPopCrop.JPG]<https://arnoldzwicky.org/2017/03/11/ejaculatory-pop/>

Ejaculatory pop | Arnold Zwicky's Blog<https://arnoldzwicky.org/2017/03/11/ejaculatory-pop/>
arnoldzwicky.org
(This will end up going way into graphic man-man sex territory, so it’s not for kids or the sexually modest.) It started mildly enough, with an ADS-L posting yesterday by Joel Berson entitled…



>>>>>>=20
>>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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Devoted to the study of English around the world.



>>>>>>=20
>>>>>>=20
>>>>>>=20
>>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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Devoted to the study of English around the world.



>>>>>>=20
>>>>>=20
>>>>>=20
>>>>>=20
>>>>> --
>>>>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle
>> the
>>>> truth."
>>>>>=20
>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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American Dialect Society<http://www.americandialect.org/>
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Devoted to the study of English around the world.



>>>>=20
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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American Dialect Society<http://www.americandialect.org/>
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Devoted to the study of English around the world.



>>>>=20
>>>=20
>>>=20
>>>=20
>>>    --
>>>    "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle =
the
>>> truth."
>>>=20
>>>    ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>    The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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American Dialect Society<http://www.americandialect.org/>
www.americandialect.org
Devoted to the study of English around the world.



>>>=20
>>=20
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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American Dialect Society<http://www.americandialect.org/>
www.americandialect.org
Devoted to the study of English around the world.



>>=20
>=20
>=20
>=20
> --=20
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the =
truth."
>=20
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

[https://s0.wp.com/i/blank.jpg]<http://www.americandialect.org/>

American Dialect Society<http://www.americandialect.org/>
www.americandialect.org
Devoted to the study of English around the world.




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

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American Dialect Society<http://www.americandialect.org/>
www.americandialect.org
Devoted to the study of English around the world.




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