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

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Thanks for your response LH.

Below is a joke that relies on a displacement that, I think, is in
some ways analogous. The original target phrase of this discussion
thread is:
They cheated their children’s way into college.

The more common expression (with a different meaning) is:
The children cheated their way into college.

Consider this comical expression:
The father worked his son's way through college.

The more common expression (with a different meaning) is:
The son worked his way through college.

Here is the joke I found in 1925. The phrasing is different, but the
key idea is similar.

Newspaper: The Ottawa Campus
Newspaper Location: Ottawa, Kansas
Date: December 9, 1925
Page: 3
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
Father will be glad when he has finished working his son's way through college.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Thu, Apr 4, 2019 at 2:04 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> 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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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