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Conference thebay::joyoflex

Title:The Joy of Lex
Notice:A Notes File even your grammar could love
Moderator:THEBAY::SYSTEM
Created:Fri Feb 28 1986
Last Modified:Mon Jun 02 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1192
Total number of notes:42769

875.0. "Mother of ..." by SSDEVO::EGGERS (Anybody can fly with an engine.) Sun Mar 03 1991 04:16

    SH seems to have unintentionally introduced into English the phrase,
    "mother of" as either a superlative or the progenitor.  The original
    seems to have been, "... the mother of all battles," quickly followed
    by, "... the mother of all retreats," and "...the mother of all
    briefings" when referring to Gen Schwarzkopf's stellar performance.

    How transient is the expression likely to be?

    Does it have connotations of incredulity, such as George McGovern
    backing his first vice-presidential running mate "1000 percent"?
T.RTitleUserPersonal
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875.1Father of ..HLFS00::STEENWINKELThe Taming of the ScrewMon Mar 04 1991 16:454
    I've heard a British reporter refer to SH as the 'Father of the Mother
    of all battles'. Should this mean he is the 'Grandpa' of all battles? :-)
    
                                                        - Rik -
875.2TERZA::ZANEWar is Hell. -- ShermanMon Mar 04 1991 19:233
    Your mother is a ...

875.3Big? It was a Mother!REEF::LAMBKERickMon Mar 04 1991 20:543
    
    Mother Lode ...
    
875.4to be replaced by "the great-grand-daddy of all ..."ENABLE::GLANTZDECtp: The Mother of all TP MonitorsMon Mar 04 1991 21:531
  We here in TP engineering think it'll fade quickly.
875.5TERZA::ZANEWar is Hell. -- ShermanMon Mar 04 1991 22:004
    It will go the way of all the other current Iraqi jokes.


875.6JIT081::DIAMONDThis note is illegal tender.Tue Mar 05 1991 04:298
    > SH seems to have unintentionally introduced into English the phrase,
    > "mother of" as either a superlative or the progenitor.
    
    Superlative.  However, he did not introduce it; he only made it
    popular.  The same expression is used in other countries as well,
    sometimes in English when the speaker is moderately fluent in
    English.  The original "introducer" (surely untraceable) didn't
    make it popular in English because s/he didn't agress Kuwait.
875.7MAST::FITZPATRICKJuuuust a bit outside.Tue Mar 05 1991 23:098
    Heard on the radio this morning:
    
    	The police in Fayetteville NC have been asked to be lenient with
    any returning soldiers who may get intoxicated.  After 7 months of
    enforced sobreity, the soldiers plan on throwing "the mother of all
    parties."
    
    -Tom
875.8The great wordsmith?MARVIN::KNOWLESDomimina nustio illumeaWed Mar 06 1991 17:377
    Don't credit him (or more probably a translator trotting out the usual
    English version of a well-worn idiom in whatever language SH speaks).
    `Mother and father of ...', in the meaning `biggest imaginable', has
    been current for ages; so I'd be surprised if the expression SH used
    had not been current just as long in that language.
    
    b
875.9WordsmithingSMURF::CALIPH::binderSimplicitas gratia simplicitatisWed Mar 06 1991 19:095
I doubt whether SH, who speaks Arabic, created "mother of all battles"
any more than Bush created "Thousand points of light."  That's what
these biggies have speechwriters for.

-d
875.10Biiiiig MeteorKEATNG::KEATINGWed Mar 06 1991 22:394
    Also heard on the radio this morning:
    
    A spokesperson for the such-and-such observatory claims that the
    UFO sighting was evidently the "mother of all meteors".
875.11the phrase "mother of"ODIXIE::LAMBKERick Lambke @FLA dtn 392-2220Tue Mar 19 1991 23:199
    I saw in the paper a headline, "police are victorious".
    
    A suburban school was overrun by children aged 11-17 playing "war
    games" on Saturday. Police were called, and spent many hours chasing
    the children out of hiding. Finally, the children "surrendered". 
    
    Their punishment?
    
    They were sent home to face "the battle of all mothers".