[Ads-l] RES: ankle-biters

[George Thompson]

So, "ankle-biters" are children.  I can't argue against the evidence,
though I don't recall even being bitten on my ankle by one.  "Toe-biters"
(their own toes) I could see.
But the statement was  “But with hotels, we’re seeing more and more ankle
biters."   “But with hotels, we’re seeing more and more children"?  Doesn't
quite fit.

GAT


On Thu, May 10, 2018 at 9:33 AM, Margaret Winters <mewinters at wayne.edu>
wrote:

> They can’t help being lowdown.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On May 10, 2018, at 9:23 AM, W Brewer <brewerwa at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >
> > Rugrats are no-good, lowdown ankle-biters
> >
> > On Thu, May 10, 2018 at 10:16 AM, Mark Mandel <mark.a.mandel at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Ditto to Dave at wilton.net's experience; iirc, especially or exclusively
> >> small children.
> >>
> >> (Oh, hell, we have a plague of Daves! Except none of them are
> particularly
> >> plaguy.)
> >>
> >> Mark
> >>
> >>> On Wed, May 9, 2018, 8:50 PM dave at wilton.net <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> I’ve been hearing “ankle-biters” meaning children since the late 1980s
> >>> -----Original Message-----
> >>> From: "Dave Hause" <dwhause at CABLEMO.NET>
> >>> Sent: Wednesday, May 9, 2018 12:05pm
> >>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >>> Subject: Re: [ADS-L] RES: ankle-biters
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> I think it actually started with Chihuahuas and similar doglets and
> >>> generalized to other small nuisances.
> >>> Dave Hause
> >>>
> >>> -----Original Message-----
> >>> From: David Daniel
> >>> Sent: Wednesday, May 9, 2018 10:46 AM
> >>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >>> Subject: RES: ankle-biters
> >>>
> >>> Ankle biters are kids, I believe.
> >>> DAD
> >>>
> >>> -----Mensagem original-----
> >>> De: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] Em nome
> de
> >>> George Thompson
> >>> Enviada em: quarta-feira, 9 de maio de 2018 12:26
> >>> Para: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >>> Assunto: ankle-biters
> >>>
> >>> -
> >>> From an article in the Business section of today's (Wednesday's)
> NYTimes,
> >>> about plans to include hotels in housing,
> >>> =E2=80=8B =E2=80=8B
> >>> office, restaurant and shopping projects:
> >>>
> >>> =E2=80=9CIf you have a successful mixed-use center with lots of apparel
> >>> sto=
> >>> res,
> >>> you=E2=80=99ll attract tenants and it=E2=80=99s less likely that a
> >>> shopping=
> >>> center will be
> >>> built near you,=E2=80=9D said Ms. Olshan, whose firm expects to open a
> >>> hote=
> >>> l and
> >>> retail development in Boston=E2=80=99s Haymarket district this year.
> >>> =E2=80=
> >>> =9CBut with
> >>> hotels, we=E2=80=99re seeing more and more ankle biters.=E2=80=9D
> >>>
> >>> =E2=80=8BI get the idea here, I suppose, more or less, but the image is
> >>> cer=
> >>> tainly
> >>> strange. Are the ankle-biters unforeseen problems, or =E2=80=8Bforeseen
> >> pr=
> >>> oblems,
> >>> or what? I know the expression that something or other "will come back
> to
> >>> bite him someday". I don't think I've heard is as "come back to bite
> him
> >>> in the ankle". But then, I'm often out-of-touch.
> >>>
> >>> GAT
> >>>
> >>> --=20
> >>> George A. Thompson
> >>> The Guy Who Still Looks Stuff Up in Books.
> >>> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
> >>> Univ. Pr., 1998.
> >>>
> >>> But when aroused at the Trump of Doom / Ye shall start, bold kings,
> from
> >>> your lowly tomb. . .
> >>> L. H. Sigourney, "Burial of Mazeen", Poems. Boston, 1827, p. 112
> >>>
> >>> The Trump of Doom -- also known as The Dunghill Toadstool. (Here's a
> >>> picture of his great-grandfather.)
> >>>
> >>> http://www.parliament.uk/worksofart/artwork/james-
> >> gillray/an-excrescence---=
> >>> a-fungus-alias-a-toadstool-upon-a-dunghill/3851
> >>> <http://www.parliament.uk/worksofart/artwork/james-
> >> gillray/an-excrescence---=a-fungus-alias-a-toadstool-upon-
> a-dunghill/3851>
> >>>
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> >>>
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> >>>
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> >>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> ------------------------------------------------------------
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> >>>
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> 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
>



-- 
George A. Thompson
The Guy Who Still Looks Stuff Up in Books.
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998.

But when aroused at the Trump of Doom / Ye shall start, bold kings, from
your lowly tomb. . .
L. H. Sigourney, "Burial of Mazeen", Poems.  Boston, 1827, p. 112

The Trump of Doom -- also known as The Dunghill Toadstool.  (Here's a
picture of his great-grandfather.)
http://www.parliament.uk/worksofart/artwork/james-gillray/an-excrescence---a-fungus-alias-a-toadstool-upon-a-dunghill/3851

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