Date:    Tue, 21 Apr 1998 01:14:00 -0600
<br>From:    "Donald M. Lance" <engdl[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]SHOWME.MISSOURI.EDU>
<br>Subject: Re: flat
<br>
<br>As a native-speaker of adverbial _flat_, I can easily say "She's flat
<br>brilliant," with _flat_ being an adverb rather than an adjectival modifier
<br>of 'brilliant'.  The intonation is different in this sentence than in
<br>"She's flat broke" (meaning she doesn't have any money).  It's also
<br>possible for me to say "She's flat broke" meaning that its flat true that
<br>she's broke.  Syllable-lengthening and pitch contours differentiate between
<br>adverbial and adjectival uses.  I have a strong suspicion that 'flat out'
<br>and adverbial 'flat' are Southernisms.
<br>
<br>>At 11:50 AM -0700 4/9/98, Peter Richardson wrote:
<br>>>This morning on NPR there was an interview with a survivor of that
<br>>>horrible tornado that killed so many in Alabama. Her statement included:
<br>>>"...a lotta people who are gonna flat need prayer..."
<br>>>
<br>>>I'm wondering about the distribution of _flat_ as an intensifier, since it
<br>>>appears not to be in DARE. The RHHDAS lists it as an adverb, as in "I'm
<br>>>flat broke"--something I heard growing up in Illinois. But this
<br>>>intensifying function seems rarer. Any ideas?
<br>>>
<br>>>Peter
<br>>
<br>>There's also the related (I assume) "flat-out".  I've heard "he can flat
<br>>out play", "he flat-out blew the call", and "he's a flat-out superstar", or
<br>>their equivalents in sportscasterese, and I'm sure it would turn up all
<br>>over the place on Nexis.  The first "flat" above does sound like a
<br>>regionalism to me, though.  (And I wonder about the
<br>>distribution--collocational, not geographic--of the intensifying "flat" of
<br>>"flat broke".  I can imagine "flat-out brilliant", but not "flat
<br>>brilliant", in my own idiolect.)  The OED does have "flat broke" as a
<br>>specific Americanism dating back at least to Bartlett's 1859 Dictionary,
<br>>but then it also has the interesting 1601 cite "I am flat of your mind"
<br>>under the heading of adverbial FLAT = 'absolutely, downright, fully'.  And
<br>>then there's the related postposed "flat" = 'exactly' (three minutes flat)
<br>>or 'completely' (turned me down flat).   They all seem to suggest something
<br>>like 'no two ways about it.'
<br>>
<br>>Larry (Horn)
<br>
<br>
<br>DMLance
<br>