[Ads-l] Phrase: [Word] is doing a lot of work

[Stephen Goranson]

The word ' snigger ' does a lot of work here , for it is not the echoes which ' snigger but the speaker's attitude which is sniggering . Like a nervous schoolboy, his attitude is actually one of uneasy scepticism and cultivated disdain: he pretends ...

The less deceived and the Whitsun weddings by Philip Larkin / page 30
Andrew Swarbrick
1986 1st ed.
English  Book ix, 86 pages ; 22 cm.
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire : Macmillan

Also with phrases:

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Outside the Book: Contemporary Essays on Literary Periodicals <https://books.google.com/books?id=iwYaAQAAIAAJ&q=%22does+a+lot+of+work+here%22&dq=%22does+a+lot+of+work+here%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&printsec=frontcover&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj92ana1qPwAhWNQs0KHcj1CU4Q6AEwA3oECAAQAg>
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David Carter · 1991 · ‎Snippet view
Found inside – Page 17
They have bought the pernicious ideology which " believes as a dogma that the highest cultural goods are or should be available to every citizen . " The nice equivocation of " are or should be " does a lot of work here . Of course highly formal .

SG
________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2021 10:33 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Phrase: [Word] is doing a lot of work

Geoff Nunberg, thou shouldest be living at this hour!

> On Apr 28, 2021, at 9:13 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> Science historian James Gleick asked an interesting question on
> twitter a few hours ago that may be pertinent to this mailing list.
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://twitter.com/JamesGleick/status/1387525011922198529__;!!OToaGQ!42tmozDvCHoIW6DIJliByfl_wKAkaLmaZrmBvV4pOpf8DiP93n9YiQuKhDhXm5G4$
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> I would like a lexicographer to tell me about the phrase “is doing a
> lot of work there,” as applied to a word.
>
> “The word ‘merely’ is doing a lot of work there.”
>
> When did that start?
> [End excerpt]
>
> A scientist saw Gleick's inquiry and signaled me. Now I am relaying
> this question to this mailing list.
>
> In order to be helpful, I quickly interrogated JSTOR and found the two
> matches below which I tweeted. I did not attempt to interpret this
> construct, and would welcome your analysis.
>
> Date: Winter 1999
> Journal: The Threepenny Review
> Article: The Triple Thinker
> Author: P. N. Furbank
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://jstor.org/stable/4384777__;!!OToaGQ!42tmozDvCHoIW6DIJliByfl_wKAkaLmaZrmBvV4pOpf8DiP93n9YiQuKhKwvvTo8$
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> "Travail" is doing a lot of work here; it is the mot juste, but a word
> that Newman or Coleridge could perfectly well have used.
> [End excerpt]
>
>
> Journal: Ethical Theory and Moral Practice
> Date: Dec. 2000
> Article: New Directions in Ethics: Naturalisms, Reasons and Virtue
> Author: Soran Reader
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> But 'education' here is doing a lot of work: it is richly understood,
> as no less than the creating and shaping of the virtuous person in
> childhood.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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