------------------------

MY DAD:



My dad died today.

He had multiple sclerosis, then strokes, then diabetes, and had been ill

for 21 years.

My mother--who was in the same hospital last month--is making funeral

arrangements.

So long for a while.



------------------------------



Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 11:21:41 +0900

From: Daniel Long dlong[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]JOHO.OSAKA-SHOIN.AC.JP

Subject: Re: it's



Michael Montgomery wrote:

Has anyone ever collected undergraduate malapropisms on grammar tests?

Here's an example to add to the list, from a mid-term exam taken last

week:



"_It's_ is a contraption of _it_ and _is_."



Indeed! What other contraptions are our students learning about in our

courses??



Appalling! Everyone who knows their English grammar knows that "it's"

could just as well be a contraption of "it" and "has".



Danny Long (holding down things English in this part of the world)



(Dr.) Daniel Long, Associate Professor

Japanese Language Research Center

Osaka Shoin Women's College

4-2-26 Hishiyanishi

Higashi-Osaka-shi, Osaka Japan 577

tel and fax +81-6-729-1831

email dlong[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]joho.osaka-shoin.ac.jp

http://www.age.or.jp/x/oswcjlrc/index-e.htm



------------------------------



End of ADS-L Digest - 2 Mar 1997 to 3 Mar 1997

**********************************************



Subject: ADS-L Digest - 3 Mar 1997 to 4 Mar 1997



There are 18 messages totalling 607 lines in this issue.



Topics of the day:



1. a bit more -o

2. It's

3. contraption/contraction (2)

4. Military Technical Reports about Dialect(s)

5. official lg (3)

6. Spanglish

7. Missouri opportunity April 10

8. daddy-o (2)

9. daddy-o -Reply

10. Claudio's Parents

11. help: address for fling, please

12. Daddy-o

13. No subject given

14. Homely



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Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 01:26:31 -0500

From: Bryan Gick bryan.gick[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALE.EDU

Subject: a bit more -o



DADDY-O:

As early as 1819, during the Dandy craze, there was a popular song

called "Dandy-O" that was much quoted and parodied.

The "Daddy-O" users of the 1950s didn't know the song, but the

formation goes way, way back to across the pond.



Sounds right to me. While "problemo" seems clearly Spanoid (reminds me

of the Italianoid "crapola") because of the accent shift/vowel quality

(probl[ej]mo), "daddy-o," "dandy-o" and bunches of other -o's, on the

other hand, seem more connected to the who-knows-how-old "traditional"

British song device whose rule goes something like: if it's in a song or

rhyme, you can stick an -o on it. Cf. "hey down the derry-o," etc.

More seriously, though, it seems to be ok to append this latter -o

in the hiatus after any line-final trochee...but all you poets out there

can probably give an accurate description of the process.

While we're at it, "crapola" brings to mind "garbagio" [garba'Zio],

which I've heard quite a lot in my life, and which seems to be an

extraordinarily Romantic hybrid (pardon the cloney imagery)...especially

in its sometimes-form "EL garbagio." Hmm.

Bryan

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