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

[Andy Bach]

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

Assuming that's working to pay for his son's way through school, yet
another sense would be my relief when I was done (home)working my son's way
through high school.  He disliked homework.

On Thu, Apr 4, 2019 at 3:29 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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
> > >> ------------------------------------------------------------
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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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Andy Bach,
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