[Ads-l] "Drop"

[Laurence Horn]

Yes, as in ‘give birth to’, but one doesn’t (yet) hear of women in the delivery room dropping a baby.  Good ol' taboo avoidance strikes again!

LH

> On May 22, 2023, at 10:23 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Yes. But it's lately been taking off among journalists in non-entertainment
> contexts.
> 
> The other day I heard of a company "dropping" some new cyber-thingie or
> other.
> 
> Cf. the sense "give birth to."
> 
> JL
> 
> On Mon, May 22, 2023 at 10:18 AM Bill Mullins <amcombill at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> I probably first ran across this usage in reference to musicians
>> "dropping" a new album, track, etc.
>> 
>> 1994 NY Daily News 23 Feb 19/4
>> Salt-n-Pepa just dropped a new album, which is all over the charts.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of
>> Jonathan Lighter
>> Sent: Monday, May 22, 2023 7:35 AM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: "Drop"
>> 
>> To release to the public; announce.
>> 
>> I've been seeing and hearing this a whole lot in the past few months .
>> 
>> <goog_1644883552>
>> https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/walmart-deals-dyson-samsung-191003952.html
>> :
>> 
>> Walmart just dropped 50+ incredible early Memorial Day deals, starting at
>> $8.
>> 
>> Old people will think this means Walmart rescinded those deals, but they'd
>> be wrong.
>> 
>> JL
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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