Quoting John Quijada <jq_ithkuil@...>:
> Ph. D. wrote:
>
> >John Quijada wrote:
> >> I'm especially curious as to why
> >> such phrases carry the highly unusual compositional
> >> structure of DEFINITE ARTICLE + NOUN being used
> >> adverbially. I can't think of any other types of nouns used
> >> this way in English
> >
> >Why the dickens don't you call me?
> >Where the blazes have you been?
> >They trashed the crap out of his house.
> >They beat the daylights out of him.
> ___________________
> Ah! I'll grant you 'dickens' and 'blazes', but I'm wondering whether in
> the last two examples, 'the crap' and 'the daylights' are simply
> conventionalized synonyms/substitutes for something like 'inside(s)'
> or 'innards.'
I thought "beating the daylights out of him" specifically indicated he was
knocked senseless?
Andreas