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#181072 - 12/20/08 04:36 PM Re: Need a smile? [Re: dalehileman]
Faldage Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 12/01/00
Posts: 12527
Originally Posted By: dalehileman


A drive drive drive drive is the flight of a ball in a baseball game, the outcome of which results in an automobile trip by the all-time home-run champion to a venue in which culturally-acquired concern for the proliferation of a keychain semiconductor memory is sponsored through the profits of a lumber mill whose continued existencce depends upon the legalization of dredging a shallow river intended to convey logs downstream for further processing

Venue, incidentally, is another case in point


I can only add that deathless line by Marcus Tullius Cicero, the great Roman orator in the last days of the republic. Malo malo malo malo.

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#181077 - 12/20/08 05:46 PM Re: Need a smile? [Re: dalehileman]
BranShea Offline
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Registered: 06/23/06
Posts: 3740
Loc: Netherlands, the Hague
madwayoutoforbit

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#181082 - 12/21/08 01:00 AM Re: Need a smile? [Re: Faldage]
twosleepy Offline
old hand

Registered: 02/28/08
Posts: 796
Loc: western NY
Originally Posted By: Faldage
You realise the student is being a prescriptivist here.

Yes, I do, but he didn't realize it, so it doesn't count... ;0)

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#181098 - 12/22/08 09:48 AM Re: Need a smile? [Re: twosleepy]
Buffalo Shrdlu Online shocked
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 06/24/02
Posts: 6688
Loc: Vermont
doesn't a lot mean very?

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#181101 - 12/22/08 11:12 AM Re: Need a smile? [Re: Buffalo Shrdlu]
zmjezhd Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 08/13/05
Posts: 2459
Loc: R'lyeh
doesn't a lot mean very?

Doesn't work for me.

1a. He had to buy a lot of books.
1b. *He had to buy very of books.
1c. He had to buy many books.
2a. She drinks a lot.
2b. *She drinks very.
2c. She drinks much.
3a. The books are very red.
3b. *The books are a lot red.

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#181105 - 12/22/08 11:37 AM Re: Need a smile? [Re: zmjezhd]
Buffalo Shrdlu Online shocked
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 06/24/02
Posts: 6688
Loc: Vermont
mad skillz.

laugh

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#181108 - 12/22/08 11:42 AM Re: Need a smile? [Re: zmjezhd]
twosleepy Offline
old hand

Registered: 02/28/08
Posts: 796
Loc: western NY
Originally Posted By: etaoin
doesn't a lot mean very?

zmjezhd hits that one, but I can say that, based on what I hear daily, "mad" can mean both "a lot" and "very". This student was objecting to the "very" interpretation...

Originally Posted By: zmjezhd
Doesn't work for me.

1a. He had to buy a lot of books.
1b. *He had to buy very of books.
1c. He had to buy many books.
2a. She drinks a lot.
2b. *She drinks very.
2c. She drinks much.
3a. The books are very red.
3b. *The books are a lot red.

Now, far be it from to question the Big Z, but isn't 2a. incomplete? Shouldn't it specify what the "lot" consists of? If it did, you could use mad with all of them:
4a. He had to buy mad books
4b. She drinks mad _____. (beer, whatever)(although I have heard, brace yourselves, "mad lot"...)
4c. The books are mad red.
I kinda like it because it is broad. There is a word in Spanish that can mean any of the following: there is, there are, is there? are there? and it's one of my favorites for the same reason. :0)

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#181111 - 12/22/08 12:19 PM Re: Need a smile? [Re: twosleepy]
Buffalo Shrdlu Online shocked
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 06/24/02
Posts: 6688
Loc: Vermont
mad is just an exaggerator, so kind of like very, or a lot, or much.

I think.

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#181112 - 12/22/08 12:57 PM Re: Need a smile? [Re: twosleepy]
zmjezhd Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 08/13/05
Posts: 2459
Loc: R'lyeh
Now, far be it from to question the Big Z, but isn't 2a. incomplete?

I use the minuscule zed in me moniker, ta. Well, in my dialect, a lot can be used by itself as in (2b).

2b. She drinks a lot.
2d. She drinks a lot of beer.
2e. He cheats a lot at cards.
2f. He cheats often at cards.
2g. A: Does she drink? B: Yes, a lot.

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#181113 - 12/22/08 01:28 PM Re: Need a smile? [Re: zmjezhd]
Buffalo Shrdlu Online shocked
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 06/24/02
Posts: 6688
Loc: Vermont
2z. She drinks mad beer. ( and the hipper might even say She drinks mad beerage.)
2z2. He mad cheats at cards.

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