[Ads-l] Joke: Complainant says one should never end a sentence with a preposition. Rejoinder includes a terminal work like jerk or jackass

[Andy Bach]

>> "So, at Harvard Square, he finds a fellow with a pipe dressed in a tweed
jacket. . . "
> I've been in Harvard Square many times, but have never seen a pipe
wearing a tweed jacket there.

"How the elephant got in my pajamas, I'll never know."

On Thu, Mar 7, 2019 at 2:13 PM George Thompson <george.thompson at nyu.edu>
wrote:

> "So, at Harvard Square, he finds a fellow with a pipe dressed in a
> tweed jacket. . . "
>
> I've been in Harvard Square many times, but have never seen a pipe wearing
> a tweed jacket there.
>
> GAT, Vice-Chairman of  the Society for the Preservation of Commas.
>
> On Thu, Mar 7, 2019 at 1:58 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
> adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > I was just asked to explore a joke about prepositions, but I have not
> > made much progress. Here are the two earliest instances I've seen.
> > Maybe a list member can find earlier evidence.
> >
> > February 24, 1980, The Montgomery Advertiser
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > "Did you hear the one about the Auburn co-ed who had a blind date with
> > an Alabama student? To make conversation, she asked her date, "Where
> > do you go to school at?" He said he went to Alabama and that he was
> > taught there never to end a sentence with a preposition. Replied the
> > Auburn co-ed: "Okay, I'll change my question . . . where do you go to
> > school at, meathead?"
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > May 21, 1982, Atlanta Constitution
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > So, at Harvard Square, he finds a fellow with a pipe dressed in a
> > tweed jacket, rep tie and Gucci loafers and yells, "Hey, can you tell
> > me where the Charles River's at?" The Harvard preppie replies, "My
> > good man, we at Harvard never end a sentence with a preposition."
> > Auburn man answers, "All right. Do you know where the Charles River's
> > at, jerk?"
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > The terminal words I've seen include: jerk, jackass, meathead,
> > asshole, bitch, and witch.
> >
> > Garson
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society -
> >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.americandialect.org&d=DwIBaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=-xFBw3boX7jKseRp1tAzbsa8zPcQ-bKwnYbFcNFqtd0&s=IXb2inxlvkABgRHLuoMyde3wqW7D7Fs4-7R6CoEbuFc&e=
> >
>
>
> --
> 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
>


-- 

a

Andy Bach,
afbach at gmail.com
608 658-1890 cell
608 261-5738 wk

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