That that and other problems

[RedBug]

Regarding "a-and", I've always heard this as comic-book speak. Particularly
in those old 40s comics it comes up when someone is on to something or just
nervous. Check out Plasticman comics, for instance.

"That" just seems like vernacular, exaggerated for I'm not sure what
purpose. Kind of a verbal pointing.

As far as the nouns-as-verbs, I too really began noticing this, to the
extent that I stuck a section, under "N" in the GR web-guide called, if I
recall, "nouns as verbs" (www.hyperarts.com/gravity/n.html). I'm sure there
are more than those I've listed. I'd be glad to be directed to any others.

Tim Ware

On Thu, 16 Jan 1997, Stan Sotic wrote:

>  Some little worries...
> 
> [a-and]  Is this two syllables, staccato, Jimmy Stewart sincere, or is
> it one long sly elided "Outstanding! A-and... they are mild" entree to
> otherness?
> 
> [that] Is this just a TRP-personal tic?  It seems to increase in
> frequency with proximity to Slothrop.  Sometimes it's used when "this"
> would seem more appropriate.  Are we supposed tho hear, irony through
> inversion, echoes of _tat tvam asi_?  Or is it an image of an actual
> dialect usage like "like" (or, like that "like"), vestige of an other
> era or locale?
> 
> [the noun as adjective] Not so frequent as 'that' but it puts a riffle
> in the stream.  Again, is this normal usage somewhere somewhen or is
> it Fraught?
> 
> And, oh yeah,
> 
> Henry M in a brown study Re:Sad tunes (was I knew that):
> 
> >Yeah. Gymnopadies. My ex-wife (not the woman whose absence 
> >began this wallow) used to play the Gymnopadies.
> 
> Now that _is_ sad.  Coming off back shifts, that was the most erotic
> music this side of Delius.  Lullaby for noontide lovers.
> 
> ============================
>