Date: Tue, 9 Dec 1997 02:10:25 EST From: Bapopik Subject: ADS-L; Hazard; Legal Sharks; Linguistics Dictionary; Dog Names ADS-L Is this coming up again? As I've said _many_ times, the ADS needs to get much bigger (not smaller!). We need to have an online publication with the American Name Society such as AMERICAN POPULAR SPEECH, something that would cover news events, movies, plays, music lyrics, books, new words and phrases, and more. Here's the latest issue: NEWS: Discussion of Gravegate, Paulagate, Travelgate, Filegate, Watergate. Reprints of recent news articles on license plate names and dog names. MOVIES: Discussion of Robin William's "pahk yah cah in Hahvahd Yahd" in GOOD WILL HUNTING. Discussion of the Southernisms of THE RAINMAKER. Discussion of AAVE and AMISTAD by two or three experts. Teen talk and SCREAM 2. BOOKS: Reviews of Peter Matthews's CONCISE OXFORD DICTIONARY OF LINGUISTICS, Anne Soukhanov's revised Flexner, AMERICA IN SO MANY WORDS. THEATER: Africanisms and African naming in THE LION KING. SPORTS: Legal battle over Nets coach John Calipari's "F***ing Mexican Idiot." Rehabilitation words?--Latrell Sprewell, Marv Albert, Lawrence Phillips quotes. MUSIC: Lyrics of the latest from Will Smith, the Rolling Stones. SPECIAL INTERVIEW: AMISTAD's dialect coach (see above review). SPECIAL FEATURE: "Santa Claus" names (Sidewalk Santa, Street Corner Santa, Department Store Santa, St. Nick, Kris Kringle). SPECIAL FEATURE: "Gaspers" (autoerotic asphyxiation). NEW WORDS & PHRASES. NOTABLE WORDS & PHRASES. SPANGLISH, EBONICS, REGIONAL SPEECH COLUMNS. NOTES & QUERIES COLUMN. ANNOUNCEMENTS: ANS meeting, ADS meeting. UNOFFICIAL WORD-OF-THE-YEAR VOTES. WEB LINKS. CORRECTIONS AND COMMENTS. For example, if any discussion about AMISTAD were to appear in AMERICAN SPEECH, it would appear next year, after the movie closes! I have said many times that I would even fund such a venture through the first year, although I would expect that it would make money eventually. I don't apologize for putting etymologies on ADS-L--they are certainly professional and nearly all contain OED and RHHDAS antedates. The American Dialect Society has been a pretty lonely place for discussion of popular speech. Why make it worse? If you're not reading the above AMERICAN POPULAR SPEECH issue right now, don't blame me! I'm willing to donate only time, expertise, and money... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- THE GAME OF HAZARD "Craps" comes from "crabs" in the game of "Hazard." This is not an antedate, but is from the Sporting Magazine (London), April 1794, pg. 84: The GAME of HAZARD. THIS game may be played by any number of people. The person who takes the box and dice throws a _main_, that is to say, a chance for the company, which must be more than four, but not exceeding nine: otherwise it is no main, and he must consequently continue throwing till he brings five, six, seven, eight, or nine. This done, he must throw his own chance, which may be any above three, and not exceeding ten. If he throws two aces, or trois ace (commonly called crabs) he loses his stakes, let the company's chance (which we call the main) be what it will. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- LEGAL SHARKS "Professional courtesy! Heh-heh-heh!" --end of a lousy lawyer joke. For lawyer-shark, OED has 1806 and notes that it is a nautical term. This is from the Sporting Magazine (London), October 1793, pg. 50: A _water-lawyer_, or, in plainer terms, a _shark_, was caught last month near Washington, by Mr. Richard Graham, tacksman of the fishery of J. C. Curwen, Esq. It was included in a stake-net, with several salmon, which, as supposed, it was in pursuit of Mr. Graham, and his servant had a severe conflict with the voracious fish, in which a very string spear was shivered to pieces. It was ten feet long. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- LINGUISTICS DICTIONARY I just bought THE CONCISE OXFORD DICTIONARY OF LINGUISTICS by Peter Matthews (1997, Oxford University Press, paperback, 410 pages, $13.95). It's more comprehensive (3,000 entries), but less in-depth than Crystal's dictionary. Why isn't anyone doing a CD-ROM linguistics dictionary? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- DOG NAMES First the New York Post did license plate names, and now the New York Daily News has done dog names. (What, no cat names?) It's in the December 8th newspaper on pages 7, 28, and 29. Yes, it's been a slow news week! There are 85, 735 licensed dog names in New York City. The article starts with menacing dog names such as Bad Attitude, Baddest, Bazooka, Bullett Proof, Bull Dozer, Bruglar, Bite/Bitten, Corrupt, Crusher, Curtains, Deathrow, Demon XVI, Destroyer, Ferocious, Firstblood, Mafioso, Negative, Predator, Monster, Rikers, Slasher, Sledge, Spike, Kill, Terminator, Thug, Vendetta.... This reminds me of another old joke. There was a woman who named her dog Virginity. One day, the dog was lost and she tried to find it...