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Discussion Groups / English Usage / July 2009Knee-jerk clichés
Freddy Flintoff has just announced that his retirement is 'not a knee- jerk action'. No, it's to do with his knees, which no longer work as they should. -- VB >Freddy Flintoff has just announced that his retirement is 'not a knee- >jerk action'. No, it's to do with his knees, which no longer work as >they should. Are you suggesting that Freddy's knees no longer move with a smooth "cliché" action, but more "clicky-clicky"?  SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) >> Freddy Flintoff has just announced that his retirement is 'not a >> knee- jerk action'. No, it's to do with his knees, which no longer >> work as they should. > > Are you suggesting that Freddy's knees no longer move with a smooth > "cliché" action, but more "clicky-clicky"? A consequence of wielding the clicky baa. SignatureJohn Dean Oxford > Freddy Flintoff has just announced that his retirement is 'not a knee- > jerk action'. No, it's to do with his knees, which no longer work as > they should. And he prefixed it with "excuse the pun". SignatureDavid > > Freddy Flintoff has just announced that his retirement is 'not a knee- > > jerk action'. No, it's to do with his knees, which no longer work as > > they should. > > And he prefixed it with "excuse the pun". Ah! Didn't hear that bit. -- VB > > > Freddy Flintoff has just announced that his retirement is 'not a knee- > > > jerk action'. No, it's to do with his knees, which no longer work as [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Didn't hear that bit. It's Denees Compton all over again. "I blame the H-bomb for the weather, and the weather for Compton's knee." (I actually saw some woman called "Deniece" in the paper. Harrumph.) -- Mike. >> > > Freddy Flintoff has just announced that his retirement is 'not a knee- >> > > jerk action'. No, it's to do with his knees, which no longer work as [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > >(I actually saw some woman called "Deniece" in the paper. Harrumph.) A few more like these and we'll soon have ten little Pawnees, then. </cross thread alert> SignatureRobin (BrE) Herts, England >(I actually saw some woman called "Deniece" in the paper. Harrumph.) There is this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deniece_Williams She was born in the same city as Michael Jackson -- Gary, Indiana. SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) > > > Freddy Flintoff has just announced that his retirement is 'not a knee- > > > jerk action'. No, it's to do with his knees, which no longer work as [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > -- > VB I've never understood why people apologize for a pun, unless it's an obscene and unintended double entendu. >> > > Freddy Flintoff has just announced that his retirement is 'not a knee- >> > > jerk action'. No, it's to do with his knees, which no longer work as [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] >I've never understood why people apologize for a pun, unless it's an >obscene and unintended double entendu. It's a way of drawing attention to it. SignatureRichard Bollard Canberra Australia To email, I'm at AMT not spAMT. > On Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:17:34 -0700 (PDT), Arcadian Rises > [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > It's a way of drawing attention to it. Yes, but an interesting little social convention, all the same. My take is that the pun-apology started out as genuine: unintentional puns can distract from, or even appear to make light of, serious subjects*. Thence was but a step or two to using a pretended apology to draw attention to intentional word-play. I'm not quite sure exactly how to explain the audience's conventional groan, which is as often awarded to very good puns as to very strained ones; but I suppose it's just a counterpart of the punster's mock-apology. *A nice example of foot-in-it which seems to have gone unnoticed by the perp andf the editor was during the Paris air show, when an Al- Jazeera reporter spoke of "the latest models to hit the runway": not sure if it qualifies as a pun, but it was certainly unfortunate. -- Mike. >*A nice example of foot-in-it which seems to have gone unnoticed by >the perp andf the editor was during the Paris air show, when an Al- >Jazeera reporter spoke of "the latest models to hit the runway": not >sure if it qualifies as a pun, but it was certainly unfortunate. That wording would also work for a fashion show. SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) |
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