[Ads-l] Obsolete term: "gas pedal" in an electric car =?utf-8?Q?=E2=80=93_?=alternatives "potentiometer" or "accelerator"

[Laurence Horn]

I assume “off the hook” in the sense of ‘no longer in jeopardy, immune from being hassled’ was originally a fishing metaphor rather than a telephone one. But presumably “off the hook” in the “off the chain” sense below is indeed from the ringing telephone scenario.  

LH

> On Sep 30, 2019, at 1:46 PM, Andy Bach <afbach at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
>> Answer your telephone! It's ringing off the hook!
> 
> And now "off the hook" and, the seemingly related "off the chain" mean "out
> of this world" - "The food at that place is off the chain!"
> 
> On Mon, Sep 30, 2019 at 1:33 AM Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Answer your telephone! It's ringing off the hook!
>> 
>> On Fri, Sep 27, 2019 at 6:42 PM W Brewer <brewerwa at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> I miss the days when we could yell to a neighbor, "Hang up yer 'phone,
>> it's
>>> off the hook!", although we can still say "The s.o.b. hung up on me!",
>>> anachronymically speaking.
>>> 
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> -Wilson
>> -----
>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
>> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> -Mark Twain
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> 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

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