[Lexicog] Joe the Plumber

[Hayim Sheynin]

Dear Scott,

Please check your data about the
assassination (noun -- Shakespeare coinage) ?
I doubt this, since I know that the ethimology of
this word is from Arabic hassassiniya.
There was in Baghdad a sect or secret organization
under this name which practiced murder and political
killings. Later this organization developed branches
in other countries, like Malaysia.
I presume it came to Shakespeare either from French or
Dutch.

Hayim Sheynin


On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 6:56 AM, bolstar1 <bolstar1 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Ruddy Troike said on "Idioms and Phraseology": "I'm reminded of Alton
> Becker's rejection of Chomsky's autonomous syntax by arguing that
> `all of language is recycled combinations, and that this is how we
> learn language...'"
> I think that's a great principle in understanding language
> acquisition and evolution. An interesting modern-day example might
> be "Joe the Plumber," the current mantra used on the American
> political beat to refer to the average citizen. Of course this is an
> offshoot of "Joe sixpack." But Joe the plumber will only enter the
> lexicon if it holds up over time. Till then it might be considered a
> current and localized allusion. (Wouldn't it be funny if this lead
> to "Joe the...(something)" -- to refer to any group, organization, or
> political persuasion?)
> Some phrases don't change over time, and simply are too pithy
> and catchy to give up. e.g. "the be-all and all of...(something) --
> from Shakespeare's Macbeth:
>
> Macbeth 1.07.002(2)-007(1)
> assassination (noun -- Shakespeare coinage)
> the be-all and end-all (nphr -- Shakespeare coinage)
>
> If th' assassination
> Could trammel up the consequence, and catch,
> With his surcease, success; that but this blow
> Might be the be-all and the end-all -- here,
> But here, upon this bank and shoal of time,
> We'd jump the life to come. (Signet)
>
> trammel up* catch in a net (Sig) || entangle as in a net (Riv)
> the consequence* the events arising from it (Riv)
> his surcease* Duncan's death (?) the consequence's cessation (?)
> (Sig) ||
> its (the assassination's) conclusion (?) or Duncan's death (?)
> (Riv)
> success* what follows (Sig)
> shoal*** shallow (Oni)
> jump* hazard; risk (Oni) || venture (Nels)
>
> Scott Nelson
>
> 

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