[Ads-l] TV dialogue

[Wilson Gray]

>I expect the use of 'tap' in the business sense of exploiting natural
> resources predates any usage you are considering.

So do I.

But that is not to the point. The point is that, unless (b) - or,  at
least, the writer who composed that exchange - is familiar with the BE
former obscenity, now a mere vulgarity, _tap that ass_, then (b) has no
reason to suggest to (a) that he may wish to rephrase his statement, "I
intend to tap that [potential]," which is, as you suggest, practically a
cliché in business jargon, because it's too reminiscent of "I intend to tap
that [ass]."

On Thu, Mar 8, 2018 at 8:12 AM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

> I expect the use of 'tap' in the business sense of exploiting natural
> resources predates any usage you are considering.
>
> On Mar 8, 2018 2:33 AM, "Wilson Gray" <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > a. I'm going to invest $100,000.
> > b. Wow!
> > a. This place has a lot of potential. I intend to tap that!
> > b. That's probably not the way you want to say that.
> >
> > Talk about your "cultural appropriation"!🤡
> >
> > --
> > -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
>



-- 
-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