[Ads-l] "Towed truck"

Tue Dec 8 20:31:17 UTC 2020

Here is an instance of "undertoads" (undertows) in 1924.

Date: July 6, 1924
Newspaper: Illustrated Daily News
Newspaper Location: Los Angeles, California
Article: Kiddykute Sayings
Author: Mrs. Lester Rands
Quote Page 19, Column 1
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt – check for OCR errors]
Fearing that they might go out too far, I warned them to be careful,
and told them how undertows sometimes carried people out to sea.

They donned their suits and we set forth. When the younger girl caught
sight of the ocean she said, in a confidential tone, to her small
sister "Now I just tell you, I am not going out very far in all that
water. Those undertoads are not going to have a chance to get me!"
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Tue, Dec 8, 2020 at 3:16 PM ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 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
> > >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> > >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >>=20
> > >=20
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
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> > >=20
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > 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

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