[Ads-l] A newish construction and a newish euphemism

[Laurence Horn]

Same meaning, but not the same construction.  Maybe “His parents paved his way into office” but not “His parents lied/cheated/bribed/blackmailed his way into office”.  Only he could have done that.  

LH

> On Apr 3, 2019, at 11:04 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Does this fit the template you are interested in?
> 
> [Begin match]
> T. Macci Plauti Trinummus, Page 135
> https://books.google.com/books?id=1bcLnVxnE0gC
> Titus Maccius Plautus, ‎Joseph Henry Gray - 1897
> 
> A distinguished father paved his son's path to office, the son must
> keep the road open for his descendants. 644. atque honor! posterorum
> tuorum ut uindex fieres, ...
> [End match]
> 
> Garson
> 
> On Wed, Apr 3, 2019 at 10:47 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>> 
>> Has anyone encountered cases in which one X’s *someone else’s* way somewhere as opposed to just X-ing one's own way there?  I heard this from Lester Holt on tonight’s NBC Nightly News, and while it’s clear what’s meant, I didn’t know one could say it this way.  He was describing the ongoing college admissions scandal and referred to Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman being arraigned in court on…
>> 
>> “charges that they cheated their children’s way into college”.
>> 
>> The euphemism is “edibles”, as in this Times piece:
>> 
>> Obviously, an edible is transparently anything that one can eat, but in this sense it’s a bit like “drink” = ‘alcoholic beverage’.  One of my favorites along these lines is the option in some college residences of opting for a “substance-free" floor.
>> 
>> LH
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> 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