Ahem
We at Language Log are charmed by the
sound sample for the
interjection
ahem found
alongside Answer.com's
definition
"Used to attract attention or to
express doubt or warning." Can someone at Answers.com help me
out? Is that the right intonation for attention, doubt or warning?
Answers.com (prudishly?) omits most sound samples for
profanities. But they have a cute one for
fucking, which they define
only with "
Used as an intensive."
I'd prefer
intensifier, at least if their sound sample was anything like this use of the word. It isn't. Still, it
would make a great one-liner in a fruity off-Broadway bedroom farce:
Lady Eldridge: My! What are Archbishop Priestly and the
Countess doing?
Ambassador Biggley: Fucking.
[Curtain]
Posted by David Beaver at June 22, 2006 09:23 PM