Re: Suggestive nonsense (was: K-Rad)

Eric Christopherson scripsit:
> On Wed, Jun 20, 2001 at 07:22:15AM -0400, John Cowan wrote:
> > I think these words do have meaning, even if we can't see exactly what it is.
> > English, at least, has a long tradition of semi-meaningful nonsense:
> >
> >         'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
> [snip]
> >         It was Adjective, and the Adjective Noun-SING
>
> I think you meant to say that <toves> is a Noun-PL.
Of course.   I added the morphological markers at the last minute and
didn't check them properly.

> Also, I'd always thouht
> of <brillig> as an adjective, but I've read that Carroll later said it was a
> noun meaning some part of the day (teatime, was it?)
That's what Humpty Dumpty says, and it's possible, but I think a naive
hearer would assign Adjective instead.

--
John Cowan                                   cowan@ccil.org
One art/there is/no less/no more/All things/to do/with sparks/galore
        --Douglas Hofstadter

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