[Ads-l] "Towed truck"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Peter Reitan wrote:
> When I was 4, I was afraid of being grabbed by the under-toad.

The "undertoad" is mentioned in John Irving's bestseller "The World
According to Garp" (1978). Here is a 1957 citation for "undertoad"
(undertow).

Date: August 8, 1957
Newspaper: The Greenville Advocate
Newspaper Location: Greenville, Alabama
Article: Around Our House
Author: Kathryn Tucker Windham
Quote Page 5B, Column 3
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
And she kept looking about on the sand and into the water as though
she had lost something. Finally, she asked,
"Where are the frogs?"
"Frogs?" I answered. "What frogs?"
"The frogs you kept talking about. The toad frogs. You know you kept
talking about the undertoads." The undertow! Fortunately, we didn't
encounter any.
[End excerpt]

Garson



> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Sammy Dean <sammydean at MYPOSTOFFICE.CO.UK>
> Sent: Tuesday, December 8, 2020 10:01:08 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: "Towed truck"
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Sammy Dean <sammydean at MYPOSTOFFICE.CO.UK>
> Subject:      Re: "Towed truck"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> That reminds me of a good old  howler from the Ministry of Defence: "toad g=
> un" for "towed gun".=20
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Sent: Sun, 22 Nov 2020 02:01:21 -0000 (GMT)
> Subject: Re: "Towed truck"
>
> > On Nov 21, 2020, at 7:30 PM, Herbert F. Stahlke <hfwstahlke at GMAIL.COM> wr=
> ote:
> >=20
> > The first instance of a counter ice-cream phrase?
>
> I was thinking a possible hypercorrection as the motivation, but there=E2=
> =80=99s not enough evidence to be sure.  Here=E2=80=99s one more clear inst=
> ance of =E2=80=9Ctowed truck =3D =E2=80=99tow truck':
>
> https://intensetowingrecovery.com/towed-truck-clinton-maryland/
>
> Other apparent instances seem to involve actual trucks that are being towed=
>  or other irrelevancies.
>
> LH
>
> >=20
> > On November 21, 2020, at 12:31 PM, Randy Alexander <strangeguitars at gmail.=
> com> wrote:
> >=20
> > But, a towed towed truck should be something that a truck truck truck tow=
> s,
> > so a towed truck should be something that a truck truck tows.
> >=20
> > On Sun, Nov 22, 2020, 00:09 Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> >=20
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> -----------------------
> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> >> Subject:      "Towed truck"
> >>=20
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> -------
> >>=20
> >> =3D46rom a notice today on our local Nextdoor Whitneyville neighborhood =
> =3D
> >> e-mail list:
> >>=20
> >> TOWED TRUCK. Anyone with towed truck or Triple AAA? I need to bring my =
> =3D
> >> car to the junk yard please I will pay whoever does me the favor please
> >>=20
> >> [Just noticed the =3DE2=3D80=3D9CTriple AAA=3DE2=3D80=3D9D, which I gues=
> s goes in =3D
> >> the "ATM machine=3DE2=3D80=3D9D bin.]
> >> Pretty sure I=3DE2=3D80=3D99ve never seen =3DE2=3D80=3D9Ctowed truck=3DE=
> 2=3D80=3D9D before =3D
> >> (other than for trucks that were towed), but we=3DE2=3D80=3D99ve encount=
> ered =3D
> >> similar reanalyses. Given the iteration, it=3DE2=3D80=3D99s unlikely to =
> be a =3D
> >> typo.
> >>=20
> >> LH=3D
> >>=20
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
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> >>=20
> >=20
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> >=20
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>
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>
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>
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