[Corpora-List] Studies of 'as it were', 'so to speak' and 'in a manner of speaking'?

[R.M.Salkie at bton.ac.uk]

Can anyone point me to useful literature on any of these expressions?

 

Does the following seem like a normal use of 'as it were'?

 

********

"The tracks!" said Pooh. "A third animal has joined the other two!"
"Pooh!" cried Piglet "Do you think it is another Woozle?"

 

"No," said Pooh, "because it makes different marks. It is either Two
Woozles and one, as it might be, Wizzle, or Two, as it might be, Wizzles
and one, if so it is, Woozle. Let us continue to follow them."

 

So they went on, feeling just a little anxious now, in case the three
animals in front of them were of Hostile Intent. And Piglet wished very
much that his Grandfather T. W. were there, instead of elsewhere, and
Pooh thought how nice it would be if they met Christopher Robin suddenly
but quite accidentally, and only because he liked Christopher Robin so
much. And then, all of a sudden, Winnie-the-Pooh stopped again, and
licked the tip of his nose in a cooling manner, for he was feeling more
hot and anxious than ever in his life before. There were four animals in
front of them!

 

"Do you see, Piglet? Look at their tracks! Three, as it were, Woozles,
and one, as it was, Wizzle. Another Woozle has joined them!"

 

>>From A.A. Milne, 'In Which Pooh and Piglet Go Hunting and Nearly Catch a
Woozle' (Chapter 3 of Winnie the Pooh).

 

********

 

Thanks. - Raf 

 

 

Professor Raphael Salkie,       Tel: (+44) 01273 643335

School of Humanities,            Tel: (+44) 01273 643337

University of Brighton            Tel: (+44) 01273 600900

Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9PH

England.

 

Fax: (+44) 01273 641873

Email: r.m.salkie at brighton.ac.uk <mailto:r.m.salkie at brighton.ac.uk>  

 

Home page: http://artsresearch.brighton.ac.uk/research/academic/salkie

 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/corpora/attachments/20100217/a512b21f/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
Corpora mailing list
Corpora at uib.no
http://mailman.uib.no/listinfo/corpora