Date:  Sat, 16 Mar 1996 07:23:43 -0500

From:  "Dennis R. Preston" <preston[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]PILOT.MSU.EDU>

Subject: Re: "cobbed" etc.



Ron is right. I overlooked the ambiguity of 'cobbed' and 'reamed.' They

may, in my usage as well, mean 'beat to a pulp' (as 'screwed' may not).



I find, however, that the 'beat to a pulp' meanings for me are usually

transitive ('Texas reamed Michigan') and the 'cheated' meanings are often

passive (especially with the 'get' passive it seems) ('Michigan got

reamed').



I also think Seth is wrong about the 'cream' - 'cremate' realtionship. I

always assumed that 'creamed' meant 'beaten' (which is what you used to do

to get cream before Fizzy Crap or whatever it's called was produced in

aerosol cans). (I actually tasted some once -- UGH!!!)



Dennis

PS: Us Spartans are always happy to see Michigan cramed, reamed, cobbed,

and screwed. Way to hook 'em horns!







>Ron Butters wrote:

>

>>I think Dennis and Seth are absolutely right about the connection of

>>COBBED with "CORNHOLE". However, it is the case that COBBED and REAMED

>>are a little different in semantic range from SCREWED--COBBED and REAMED

>>can (for me) mean simply 'defeated badly': Duke was recently

>>REAMED/COBBED (cf. CREAMED) by EMU at basketball, but they were not SCREWED.

>>

>

>I've always presumed creamed was short for cremated.

>

>Seth



Dennis R. Preston

Department of Linguistics and Languages

Michigan State University

East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA

preston[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]pilot.msu.edu

Office: (517)432-1235

Fax: (517)432-2736