[Ads-l] break one's leg

[Jonathan Lighter]

Joan, the pleasure was mine.

(I mean in finding the cite.)

JL

On Thu, Jul 16, 2020 at 8:58 AM Joan Hall <
00000876364530cf-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> Thanks for the early citation, Jonathan. DARE shows that the phrase was
> still found, chiefly in the South, in the mid-twentieth century:
>
> break one’s leg v phr
> Also break one’s toe chiefly South<
> https://www-daredictionary-com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/search?rcode=region.Sth
> >
> euphem
> To become pregnant.
>
>   *   1908 DN<
> https://www-daredictionary-com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/bibliography?letterHeading=D#bibl_3038>
> 3.294 eAL, wGA,<
> https://www-daredictionary-com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/search?f_0=reglabel&q_0=eAL,%20wGA>
> Break one’s leg. . . Of a woman, to become with child illegitimately.
>   *   1965–70 DARE<
> https://www-daredictionary-com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/bibliography?letterHeading=D#bibl_11064
> >
> Qu. AA28, . . Expressions . . to say [a woman] is going to have a baby:
> “She[’s] _____.”
> Infs FL51, LA6, NJ69, NC88, VA41, Broke her leg; AL50, Broke a leg; AL56,
> Got a leg broke; CA114, GA70, MS60, WV4, 5, Broke her toe.
>
>   *   1979 DARE File<
> https://www-daredictionary-com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/bibliography?letterHeading=D#bibl_11067>
> cSC,<
> https://www-daredictionary-com.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/search?f_0=reglabel&q_0=cSC>
> There used to be the expression . . meaning pregnant. Mrs. Brown’s daughter
> broke her leg.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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