E-Mail I Just Sent (language-related)

A Way With Words recently did a podcast on the phrase "Let's blow this pop (popsicle/popcorn) stand."

In response, I sent the following e-mail:

Your piece on "let's blow this pop/popsicle/popcorn stand" made me nostalgic.

After my senior year of high school, I spent a year in Israel on a program for
Zionist youth. My Israeli history teacher on the program was a man originally
from Massachusetts, and he used "let's blow this popsicle stand" and "let's bust
this clamshell" interchangeably. I have no idea of the origin of "Let's bust
this clamshell," but I do recall my teacher using it frequently when we went on
field trips with class. So, for instance, we'd be at the Cardo in Jerusalem,
he'd give a brief lecture, and then when he wanted to move along to the next
site, he'd say, "OK, let's bust this clamshell." It was a frequent enough
occurrance that one of my classmates started responding, "OK, clamshells, up
against the wall!" (thus using "bust" in the "drug bust" sense).

The teacher's statement and the class's rejoinder (because soon enough we were
all using it) were so identified with our group that, at the end of the
semester, we got the teacher a T-shirt that said "Let's bust this clamshell" on
the front and "OK, clamshells, up against the wall" on the back.

Nostalgically yours,
gnomi

(G)neologizing with gnomi

Today's neologism: pornucopia

porn-u-cop-i-a: a varied collection of smut

(the context under which I coined it is, basically, irrelevant. I just want it here for general tracking purposes.)

Pondering Example Sentences

When I'm clarifying a bit of style or punctuation or whatever, I tend to give an example sentence, so that the rule is not provided in a vacuum. This is true of most style guides: an example of correct (or common incorrect) usage is usually provided. But most example sentences tend to be dry. I have a different take on it... I don't know what it is, but I love writing example sentences. For example:

When showing the varying uses of em-dashes:

Bob -- the guy with the chicken on his head -- spoke first.

"Bob, why are you--" Mark started to ask, cutting himself off when the chicken took flight.


On ellipses:

"Bob... why is there a chicken on your head?"

"The chicken belongs to Bob... He wears it on his head."


On periods, commas, semicolons, question marks, and quotation marks:

Bob said, "The moose isn't going to the Red Sox' victory rally."

Susan repeated, "Bob said, 'The moose isn't going to the Red Sox' victory rally.'"

Did Bob say, "The Dropkick Murphys don't expect moose at the rally"?

Susan asked, "Why don't moose like the Dropkick Murphys?"

"Bob saw a moose," Susan said. "It was going to the Depeche Mode concert."

Jason said, "Moose are fond of 80s music"; he said it's true of antelopes, too.