tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6294141728297871688.post8026301459135490442..comments2024-03-26T07:09:21.701+00:00Comments on linguistlaura: Stuffed monkeyLaurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15599735346062899537noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6294141728297871688.post-91695975682064098522013-08-19T20:53:39.240+01:002013-08-19T20:53:39.240+01:00Goodall not only wouldn't call chimps monkeys,...Goodall not only wouldn't call chimps monkeys, it's inconceivable that she would carry stuffed ones (in the second sense) about. There's a wonderful passage in Mark Twain's <i>Life on the Mississippi</i> that comes to mind:<br /><br />Of course, on the great rise [of the Missisippi], down came a swarm of prodigious timber-rafts from the head waters of the Mississippi, coal barges from Pittsburgh, little trading scows from everywhere, and broad-horns from 'Posey County,' Indiana, freighted with 'fruit and furniture' — the usual term for describing it, though in plain English the freight thus aggrandized was hoop-poles and pumpkins. Pilots [of steamboats] bore a mortal hatred to these craft; and it was returned with usury. The law required all such helpless traders to keep a light burning, but it was a law that was often broken. All of a sudden, on a murky night, a light would hop up, right under our bows, almost, and an agonized voice, with the backwoods 'whang' to it, would wail out —<br /><br />"Whar'n the —— you goin' to! Cain't you see nothin', you dash-dashed aig-suckin', sheep-stealin', one-eyed son of a stuffed monkey!"John Cowanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11452247999156925669noreply@blogger.com