(or, speaking of verbing nouns)
bear-hug - [v] trans. To give (a person) a bear-hug, esp. an affectionate one. Also intr.: to engage in a bear-hug.
1944 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 4 June 29/3 Miss Landis was telling a story about him, not knowing he was in the audience. He jumped to his feet, cried out, ‘I'm Landis!’ and dashed to the platform where he bear-hugged his cousin. 1961 J. P. LASH Dag Hammarskjold xix. 266 Then there was Fidel Castro, stomping angrily out of one hotel allegedly for discriminatory treatment.., bear-hugging with Khrushchev, declaiming for 4.5 hours. 2000 H. SIMPSON Hey yeah right get a Life (2001) 151 Possibly she was proactive in her rapprochement with her husband, chucking him under the chin, bearhugging him, exchanging sportive punches.
{draft entry Sept. 2003}
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NB: I was going to add this to the previous thread of the same appellation, but that seems to have gone wide.
What verbing? Hug isn't a verb all over sudden?
I remember "bear-hug" from my earliest days. Remember the
"Little Audrey laughed and laughed" jokes?
Little Audrey saw a bear hugging a tree, and laughed and
laughed, because she knew only God could make a tree.(About 1935
>hug being a verb
yeahbut, you'll notice that bear-hug [v] is defined in terms of the noun bear-hug. as to bill's example, they haven't been smushed together yet, so to speak.
Dr Bill's example doesn't even have the word bear-hug in it. Just only his intro to it does.
>doesn't even
I guess that's what I didn't quite say..
Dear Faldage: I can't think of a noun that cannot immediately be verbed. But me no buts, verb me not verbs.Adjectrive me no adjectives.
So it seems a waste of time to try to date when a noun
was first verbed.
>I can't think of a noun that cannot immediately be verbed.
Read he while staring at his computer's speakers.
Dear Max: Try again. Because of my deafness I have no use
for speakers, and they are hidden behind my rather large
monitor.
Speaker me no speakers. Here's a sample of clumsy verbing
from tonight's news:
The military plays an important role in U.S. space exploration and should continue to partner with NASA, Air Force generals said Thursday.
What verbing? Hug isn't a verb all of a sudden?
Strictly speaking, Faldage is right.
For those who are collecting faldage, this isn't a faldage. It's a quibble.
Ich bin der Quibblemeister. Faldage is a mere amateur.
a mere amateur
I do love it so.
I'd say he's a contractor - not full time, but worth what he gets paid. He is the master of the sophisticated quibble ....
>Faldage is right
strictly speaking, and pedantically and quibbleistically as well, I couldn't agree less. bearhug (hyphenated or no) is manifestly a different word than hug, and began life as a noun.
-ron o.
There are bearhugs to avoid. When Alaska became a state,
a Texan decided to become an Alaskan. He flew up there,
walked into a bar, and asked bartender how to become an
Alaskan.
The bartender said: "Chug-a-lug a quart of whiskey, have
sex with an Eskimo woman, and shoot a grizzly bear."
The Texan chug-a-lugged the whiskey, and went out Several
hours later he returned, with horrible scratches on his face.
He said to the bartender:"Gimme another quart of whiskey. I've got to start over. No problem shooting the Eskimo woman, but I've got to try again to have sex with that bear."
Re: Texan becoming an Alaskan joke
wwh, I have a feeling you have just offended everyone in at least 2 states.
I suggest you lay low for awhile or bear the consequences.
What comes to mind when you think of two people barehugging each other?
Dear Grapho: The Readers Digest survived publishing it way
back then, so I think I am in no danger.
Anyway, only the Eskimaux have a legitimate objection.
Aside from preferring "Inuit".
Geez, Bill, it's an old joke and in mixed company the punchline usually comes out as:
"and the Texan staggered in through the door, covered in cuts and scratches, and barely able to stand because of the amount of whisky he'd drunk and just about fainting from blood loss. He blearily eyed the assembled sourdoughs at the bar who were all sniggering into their Buds. He tried to speak a couple of times and failed, but eventually managed to get his question out:
"All right, you bashtids ... now whersh thish Eskimo wumman y'all want me to wrassle?"
Dear Capfka: the joke is so old it has undoubtedly had
many revisions. I can't even remember the exact details
of the RD version. But at least a "bearhug" got involved.
Which reminds me of a story my old man used to tell:
Driving through Dogpatch, Ky in thier old Model T, Hairless Joe and Lonesome Polecat pulled into a service station when they saw a sign in the window that offered "Kick-a-poo Joy Juice - 6 gals for a dollar". Lonesome Polecat coughed up the buck and they both sat back and drank 3 jugs a piece. Hairless Joe got up, and stumbled over to the attendant and said "Well, that's some mighty fine drink you had there, now bring on the gals".
now bring on the galsThey didn't bring on the gals, musick, but you brought on the gales.
What comes to mind when you think of two people barehugging each other?
When I think of a "barehug", I think of the fruit the hug will bear.
Is there womb enough for any other interpretation?
Shakespeare's "two backed beast"?
Shakespeare's "two backed beast"?
Two beasts back to back are not likely to bear any new beasts, wwh, unless the beast is a lion.
Lions are retromingent so I assume they couple in reverse ... which could be an advantage to a lion keeping his eye out for other game.
For a lion, a bird in hand may not be worth two in the bush.
He is, after all, "the King of the Beasts".
Dear Grapho: Do you need instruction about the birds and
the bees? Ever heard that dancing is a navel engagement
without loss of seamen?
Ohhhh-kay, I think this will be the end of my reading of this thread. tsuwm--words fail me.
Sorry that it did get more than usually physiologic.
The result of being a bit too eager to compete.
too eager to compete
"Too eager to compete" has been the downfall of a lot of seamen.