End of ADS-L Digest - 11 Dec 1994 to 12 Dec 1994

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There are 11 messages totalling 318 lines in this issue.



Topics of the day:



 1. Get Over It (2)

 2. Da Bears (4)

 3. best word of 1994

 4. Speaking of San Diego

 5. Roundabouts and Squares

 6. boot and bonnet

 7. Re[2]: Get Over It



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Date:  Tue, 13 Dec 1994 09:58:56 -0500

From:  Allan Denchfield <dench[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CAMBRIDGE.VILLAGE.COM>

Subject: Re: Get Over It



On Mon, 12 Dec 1994, Lisa Gray wrote:



>   I'm a reporter for the Washington City Paper, and am working on a

>   story about how a phrase can temporarily take on an added meaning.

>   Specifically, I'm writing about Marion Barry's advice to white voters

>   upset that he'd won the Democratic mayoral primary: "Get over it."

>

>   Local politicians and the Washington media buzzed with the phrase for

>   a few weeks, turning it to whatever subject was at hand. Nervous about

>   voting for a Republican? Get over it. Do you believe Congress will

>   allow the District both a commuter tax and an increased federal

>   payment? Get over it. And so on.

>

>   Eventually, though, the phrase seemed to lose its edge, and its

>   appearances dropped off.

>

>   I'm looking for an academic who could comment on such phrases' short

>   half-lives. If you could--or if you know someone who could--please

>   send me e-mail.



I'll leave the analysis to others, but I also recall the appropriation

(from a commercial) by political figures (Mondale?) of the phrase'

"where's the beef?" Doesn't every catchy jingle have this potentiality of

being re-worked into a new context?





-Obi