[Ads-l] Early (?) infixing

[Jonathan Lighter]

Wot, no "irregoddamnless"?



JL

On Wed, Nov 30, 2022 at 3:03 PM Margaret Winters <mewinters at wayne.edu>
wrote:

> Apropos, Jim McCawley of blessed memory wrote a paper called "Where you
> can shove infixes", in Alan Bell and Joan Hooper, Eds., Syllables and
> Segments<
> http://books.google.com/books/about/Syllables_and_segments.html?id=rMxsAAAAIAAJ>,
> 1978, a study of syllable stress if I remember correctly.  It was followed
> by John McCarthy, "Prosodic Structure and Expletive Infixation<
> http://www.jstor.org/stable/413849>", Language 1982.
>
> ----------------------------
> MARGARET E WINTERS
> Former Provost
> Professor Emerita - French and Linguistics
> Wayne State University
> Detroit, MI  48202
>
> mewinters at wayne.edu
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Ben
> Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2022 2:58 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Early (?) infixing
>
> [EXTERNAL]
>
> Here's "inde-bloody-pendent" from 1901:
>
> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/113892403/american-slang-abroad/
> Burlington (Vt.) Free Press, Aug. 17, 1901, p. 7, col. 6, "American Slang
> Abroad"
> When they [the British] do try for the striking they are frequently
> labored. One man told another he was "too inde-bloody-pendent."
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 30, 2022 at 2:11 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
> adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > The following antedates the 1909 citation in the OED entry for
> > expletive infixed instances of 'absolutely' which I posted previously.
> >
> > Date: March 24, 1906
> > Periodical: Notes and Queries
> > Topic: Portmanteau Words and Phrases
> > Correspondent: Chas. A Bernau
> >
> >
> >
> https://books.google.com/books?id=aGYEAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Abso-blooming%22#v=snippet&
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > "Abso-(blooming)-lutely" is atrocious, but worth recording on account
> > of its ugliness.
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > Garson
> >
> > On Wed, Nov 30, 2022 at 1:22 PM ADSGarson O'Toole
> > <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > Interesting topic, Ben.
> > > The Oxford English Dictionary has pertinent information within the
> > > entry about 'absolutely'.
> > >
> > > [Begin excerpt]
> > > absolutely, adv. and int.
> > > B. int. colloquial.
> > > 2. With an expletive infixed for humorous emphasis, as
> > > abso-blessed-lutely, abso-bloody-lutely, abso-blooming-lutely, etc.
> > > 1909   R. E. Beach Silver Horde xi. 147   'Did you rustle this money
> > > without any help?' he demanded. 'Abso-blooming-lutely!'
> > > 1912   A. M. N. Lyons Clara xxiv. 265   His Information was
> > > abso-blessed-lutely good and all the very latest; right Up-to-Date.
> > > [End excerpt]
> > >
> > > Garson
> > >
> > > On Wed, Nov 30, 2022 at 10:54 AM Ben Yagoda <byagoda at udel.edu> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > From Walt McDougall, “Old Days on the World,” American Mercury,
> > January 1925. McDougall, an illustrator, is writing about his time on The
> > World in the 1880s and ‘90s.
> > > >
> > > >  “[Joseph] Pulitzer and [John A.] Cockerill were the most profane men
> > I have ever encountered. I learned much from them, for their joint
> > vocabulary was extensive and in some respects unique. When J. P. was
> > dictating an editorial upon some pet topic, such as Collis P.
> Huntington's
> > ill-gotten wealth, Jay Gould's infamous railroad wrecking or Cyrus
> Field's
> > income, his speech was so interlarded with sulphurous and searing phrases
> > that the whole staff shuddered. He was the first man I ever heard who
> split
> > a word to insert an oath. He did it often, and his favorite was
> > ‘indegoddamnpendent.’”
> >
>
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