Date:    Thu, 9 Apr 1998 15:03:51 -0400
<br>From:    Larry Horn <laurence.horn[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALE.EDU>
<br>Subject: Re: more on non-negative "un"
<br>
<br>At 2:15 PM -0400 4/9/98, Gregory {Greg} Downing wrote:
<br>>At 10:17 AM 4/9/98 -0500, you wrote:
<br>>>Last night on CNN, a Hollywood reporter twice (within a few seconds)
<br>>>referred to singer George Michael as having been caught in an
<br>>>"uncompromising" position (or situation--don't remember which) when the LA
<br>>>cops arrested him in a park restroom yesterday.
<br>>>
<br>>
<br>>So, a general question: How does one draw the boundary between (so to speak)
<br>>"common performative error" and "empirically observed, descriptivistically
<br>>existent linguistic mode"? It would seem paradoxical to say that "common
<br>>performative error" is a null set....
<br>>
<br>>Pardon the philosophical issue....
<br>>
<br>No easy answer, since it's a matter of degree, but that's why the category
<br>of nonceness (as in "nonce reanalysis") comes in handy, even if it begs the
<br>question.  One person saying "that's a whole nother thing", or
<br>"uncompromising position", or asking "what's a poy?" [in response to the
<br>claim that Aunt Jane has a lot of poise] may be doing a nonce reanalysis,
<br>but many people saying "that's a whole nother thing", or speaking of newts
<br>and aprons and umpires instead of ewts and naprons and numpires, or
<br>treating "pea" as a back-formed singular from reanalyzed "pease" is no
<br>longer performance error.  And then (as possibly with 'nother', and
<br>certainly with e.g. 'monokini' for topless bathing-suit in the '60's), we
<br>have not performance error but performance of linguistic games, the best
<br>current example being this essay, which may well have been posted on the
<br>list but is worth redredging from time to time at these moments...
<br>
<br>===========================
<br>                          How I met my wife
<br>                            by Jack Winter
<br>               Published 25 July 1994 in the New Yorker
<br>
<br>It had been a rough day, so when I walked into the party I was very
<br>chalant, despite my efforts to appear gruntled and consolate.
<br>
<br>I was furling my wieldy umbrella for the coat check when I saw her
<br>standing alone in a corner.  She was a descript person, a woman in a
<br>state of total array.  Her hair was kempt, her clothing shevelled, and
<br>she moved in a gainly way.
<br>
<br>I wanted desperately to meet her, but I knew I'd have to make bones
<br>about it since I was travelling cognito.  Beknownst to me, the
<br>hostess, whom I could see both hide and hair of, was very proper, so
<br>it would be skin off my nose if anything bad happened.  And even
<br>though I had only swerving loyalty to her, my manners couldn't be
<br>peccable.  Only toward and heard-of behavior would do.
<br>
<br>Fortunately, the embarrassment that my maculate appearance might cause
<br>was evitable.  There were two ways about it, but the chances that
<br>someone as flappable as I would be ept enough to become persona grata
<br>or a sung hero were slim.  I was, after all, something to sneeze at,
<br>someone you could easily hold a candle to, someone who usually aroused
<br>bridled passion.
<br>
<br>So I decided not to risk it.  But then, all at once, for some apparent
<br>reason, she looked in my direction and smiled in a way that I could
<br>make heads and tails of.
<br>
<br>I was plussed.  It was concerting to see that she was communicado, and
<br>it nerved me that she was interested in a pareil like me, sight seen.
<br>Normally, I had a domitable spirit, but, being corrigible, I felt
<br>capacitated---as if this were something I was great shakes at---and
<br>forgot that I had succeeded in situations like this only a told number
<br>of times.  So, after a terminable delay, I acted with mitigated gall
<br>and made my way through the ruly crowd with strong givings.
<br>
<br>Nevertheless, since this was all new hat to me and I had no time to
<br>prepare a promptu speech, I was petuous.  Wanting to make only
<br>called-for remarks, I started talking about the hors d'oeuvres, trying
<br>to abuse her of the notion that I was sipid, and perhaps even bunk a
<br>few myths about myself.
<br>
<br>She responded well, and I was mayed that she considered me a savory
<br>character who was up to some good.  She told me who she was.  "What a
<br>perfect nomer," I said, advertently.  The conversation became more and
<br>more choate, and we spoke at length to much avail.  But I was
<br>defatigable, so I had to leave at a godly hour.  I asked if she wanted
<br>to come with me.  To my delight, she was committal.  We left the party
<br>together and have been together ever since.  I have given her my
<br>love, and she has requited it.
<br>