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

Thu Apr 4 21:47:28 UTC 2019

Andy Bach wrote:
> [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.

There seems to be some ambiguity about the help provided by the
father: financial and/or intellectual. Here is a match in 1911 using
"worked".

Date: December 28, 1911
Newspaper: The Waterloo Press
Newspaper Location: Waterloo, Indiana
Quote Page 4, Column 3
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
Many autobiographies of future great statesmen will read, "his father
worked his son's way through college."
[End excerpt]

Several publications acknowledge "Harper's Weekly" for the joke. This
version uses "working".

Date November 25, 1911
Periodical: Harper's Weekly
Quote Page 16
Database: Google Books Full View
https://books.google.com/books?id=P4s-AQAAMAAJ&q=Hardatit#v=snippet&q=Hardatit&f=false

[Begin excerpt]
A HARD JOB
"WHAT is Billy Hardatit doing these days?" asked Smithers.
"Oh, he's working his son's way through college," said little Binks.
[End excerpt]

Garson

>
> 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
> > > >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > >> 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
> >
>
>
> --
>
> a
>
> Andy Bach,
> afbach at gmail.com
> 608 658-1890 cell
> 608 261-5738 wk
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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