Definitization: a >> the
A few days ago Geoff Nunberg passed around in the LLP offices a query
sent on to him by the "Fresh Air" staff about
all of the sudden for
all of a sudden. Maybe a
slightly more dramatic 'suddenly', or just a mishearing. And then
I found myself adrift in a historical sea of idiomatic articles and
prepositions.
1. Turns out that this one's in Brians and Garner and a pile of
on-line advice material. A number of commenters on the eggcorn
database have suggested it as a possible eggcorn. And it's
frequent and widespread -- over a million raw webhits, from all over
the place:
I all of the sudden feel stupid... (
link)
is there anyreason why my RSS feed would fail all of the sudden? (
link)
All Of The Sudden, Mel Gibson Doesn't Seem So Bad. More tolerance and
promotion of diversity, courtesy of the anti-war left. (
link)
The OED entry for
sudden has
a subentry for
of a sudden
'suddenly' that notes this was in fact earlier
of the sudden, a variant that is
now obsolete (1590 is their last cite). The modern occurrences
are mostly of
all of a sudden
-- unmodified
of a sudden is
just impossible for me -- though there's an 1890 plain
of a sudden cite from Arthur Conan
Doyle.
Presumably the occurrences of
all of
the sudden that are all over the place these days involve later
replacements of
a by
the, and are not survivals of
long-ago
the. But the
question is worth looking at.
2. I'd somehow missed
all of
the sudden until this query came in, though I was aware of
all on a sudden, which gets about
33,200 raw Google webhits:
... as he sat on the shore with his
rod, looking at the sparkling waves and watching his line, all on a
sudden his float was dragged away deep into the ... (
link)
the sea, all on a sudden, began to roar, and rise in billows; the birds
flew about astonished; the cattle ran crying in the fields; and ... (
link)
Maradona is a player of that class who can change the environment all
on a sudden just being himself present. (
link)
The OED lists
on/
upon a/
the sudden but labels them
archaic. Most of the cites i've looked at either have a somewhat
old-fashioned tone to them (to my ears) or come from Indian sources
(the expressions may have survived in Indian English). (The OED
also lists the obsolete variants
at
a/the sudden and
in a sudden.)
3. At this point I wondered if
a
had been replaced by
the in
other idiomatic expressions. I searched for
once in the while (for
once in a while) and got 746 raw
webhits, among them:
Every once in the while the color goes
very blue on the Old Faithful WebCam image. Why? (
link)
Working Stiff is a webzine that aims to help average working people put
in fewer hours for more pay and win arguments with the boss once in the
while. (
link)
And thanks for the reminder. I need a good kick in pants every once in
the while on this topic. (
link)
This time the OED has no
the
variant (though it gives
once and a while as an "occasional" variant;
once and a while is
already
in the eggcorn database).
Once in the while isn't in
MWDEU, Brians, Garner, Trask, or Fiske. Garner does list
once in while and
once and while as manglings of
once in a while, though.
4.
Once in while gets
an impressive 130,000 raw webhits, including:
After the conclusion of proceedings one
juror was heard to say "Every once in while you get the chance to do
the right thing. We did it in there today. (
link)
Every once in while, a person will do something obvious and direct that
is no more than it appears to be. (
link)
How about that we would meet for lunch once in while, ... (
link)
And
once and while gets
51,900, among them:
Technology comes in handy once and
while... (
link)
Everyone screws up once and while. (
link)
... near as thin as girls like the olsen twins. they don't eat
"hamburgers every once and while". they have to hardly eat anything to
look like that! (
link)
5. Oi! it then occurred to me to check
once and the while (combining
in >>
and and
a >>
the), and yes, there are a few
occurrences:
There are natives that have evolved to
live in damp soils such as Culver's root, Mallows, etc., I water those
once and the while and plant them closest to ... (
link)
Just keep your ears clean and rinse off your tips every once and the
while and you will have no problems whatsoever... (
link)
If Jewish invasion and occupation affords an extra loaf once and the
while at cost of my children getting murdered by Israeli troops and
Jewish degradation ... (
link)
6. At this point I wondered if there were any other candidates
for
a >>
the (or the reverse). These
aren't things you can search for directly. You have to think of a
larger idiom and then search on it.
Well, there are a fair number (a few hundred) of
once in the blue moon hits, like
this one:
Question 1: How often do you feel your
partner doesn't really know who you are? Most of the time. Sometimes.
Once in the blue moon. Never. (
link)
So no doubt there are a lot more based on other idioms with the
indefinite article.
[First version posted to ADS-L 9/1/06. Addendum, 9/6/06: Ron Butters on ADS-L adds
one at the time for
one at a time. Easy to find cites, like the politeness advice, "Speak one at the time."]
zwicky at-sign period csli stanford period edu
Posted by Arnold Zwicky at September 5, 2006 07:07 PM