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June 23, 2005
Rasheed Wallace and the Linguist
Tonight, as you all sit down in breathless anticipation to watch Game 7, don't forget that there's more to blog about than just what goes down on the court.
There's also the wacky language-usage bonanza at the post-game press conference.
Word-devotee Mark Liberman, over at the Language Log, noticed a discrepancy between several prominent newspapers' coverage of a Rasheed Wallace interview. As far as we can tell, Rasheed said:
Even though I did a bonehead play the other night, had to put it behind me.
Apparently, while other papers kept the verb "did," the New York Times went ahead and cleaned up the grammar and switched to the norma loquend'si favored verb, "made." But postponing questions of journalistic practice and integrity until later in the post, Liberman produces a brilliant alternative apologetic for Rasheed's phraseology:
Semantically, performing an action (even as abstract an action as failing to guard someone in the closing seconds of a basketball game) ought to be something that you do, not something that you make. And when you make a play, you're talking about succeeding at something, not neglecting or failing at something. So if Rasheed was putting words together from first principles, rather than slavishly following phrasal fashion, it makes sense for him to have said that he "did a bonehead play".
So, as we watch the game tonight, I will be blissfully imagining Rasheed Wallace as an ally to Noam Chomsky. Noel's right. There are a lot of reasons to like the NBA.
Words | By elissa | 05:03 PM
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Comments
unbelievable. stop making this blog so great. Its been awhile since I've actually looked forward to another blog having a new post.
Posted by: JosiahQ at June 23, 2005 03:28 PM
My sticking point is that he uses 'play' instead of, say, 'move' or 'thing'. Mixing semantic models, Wallace is.
Also, I have yet to decide if your blog is actually existentially progressive for you, or a therapeutic outlet for your marriage to a bizarre guy.
Posted by: Noel at June 23, 2005 04:50 PM
wow, elissa! I can't believe it took me a week to find out about your blog. I think you have an illustrious blogging career ahead of you!
Posted by: justin at June 24, 2005 10:13 AM
