Re: USAGE: towing the line (was: THEORY: no more URs!)

On Sun, 26 May 2002 14:52, Steg Belsky wrote:
> On Sat, 25 May 2002 22:25:14 -0400 John Cowan <jcowan@...>
>
> writes:
> > Thomas R. Wier scripsit:
> > > Towing the line of the department is an all too common frailty,
> >
> > This is a very interesting expression, and I wonder if it is a
> > mere brain fart (a typo seems to be ruled out) or a genuine
> > reanalysis of an old expression no longer understood.
> > Historically,
> > one "toed the line" when engaged in competitive running or archery
> > or such; that is, stood with one's toe at, but not over, the
> > starting line.  Hence the notion of conforming to the rules.
> > What do y'all understand by this phrase?
> > We already have the well-known expression "doggy-dog world"
> > for "dog-eat-dog world".
> >
> > John Cowan <jcowan@...>
>
> -
>
> And then there's my favorite, "for all intensive purposes" which for the
> first 20 years of my life i thought was the proper way to say/write "for
> all intents and purposes".  I still do it that way, because that's 'how i
> speak' - and i don't think anyone's ever actually called me on it.
>
And then there's the celebrated "Round John Virgin, mother and child"
reinterpretation of a much-loved Christmas carol; and my own "ticket \ to the
living" - a rather goulish reinterpretation/mishearing of that song of the
(Eagles? / America?)'s  line, "take it \ to the limit".

I'm sure there are hundreds more examples just ready for the plucking.

Wesley Parish

>
> -Stephen (Steg)
>  "birds fly over the rainbow
>   why can't i?"
>      (my brother is listening to a cool cover of that song now)
--
Mau e ki, "He aha te mea nui?"
You ask, "What is the most important thing?"
Maku e ki, "He tangata, he tangata, he tangata."
I reply, "It is people, it is people, it is people."