LINGUIST List 3.13

Sun 05 Jan 1992

Disc: X and a Half, S --> NP NP

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Directory

1. , Re: 2.884 X and a Half
2. Ivan A Derzhanski, 2.884 X and a Half
3. Tania Avgustinova, Re: 2.884 X and a Half
4. Robert D Hoberman, a ... and a half
5. John Cowan, S -> NP NP

Message 1: Re: 2.884 X and a Half

In her response to the "a(n) X and a half" query, Karen Kay
thought that the meaning of such an expression is usually not
a positive one, but I have heard people use it both ways.
Just recently I came across an example in print where the
meaning is quite positive:

	That was a bath and a half, I can tell you. It
	soaked a lot of misery away.

It is found in Power of One (an excellent read, by the way), p.144,
paperback published by Random House. The author Bryce Courtenay
was born in South Africa, educated there and in England, and later
emigrated to Australia.

O.S. Her
ECS, Inc.
herobyuvax

In colloquial Bulgarian the expression _X i polovina_ `X and a half'
is quite common. It means `an outstanding X' (outstanding among the
other Xs, by whatever qualities are characteristic for X).

The Croatian example translates directly as _momiche i polovina_ `an
excellent girl'. Another very typical example is _glupak i polovina_
`a fool and a half', ie `a hopeless fool'.

Karen Kay (LL23NEMOMUS.bitnet) writes:

> I think in English the meaning is not a positive one--my students today,
> in fact, referred to my final as a test-and-a-half.

_Izpit i polovina_ would mean a well designed exam (one that really
tells you how much your students know).

> I've heard people refer to a bad day as a day-and-a-half.

_Den i polovina_, on the other hand, can only have its literal meaning.

Ivan A Derzhanski

Message 3: Re: 2.884 X and a Half

In Bulgarian, it is very common to use such an expression. It is limited,
however, to nominatives only and could express both positive and negative
qualification in accordance with the semantics of the noun:

"momiche i polovina"
('a girl and a half', meaning a very beautiful girl)

"glupak i polovina"
('a fool and a half', meaning a very stupid man)

"uchen i polovina"
('a scientist (substantivized adjective) and a half', meaning a very good
scientist)

Tania

Tania Avgustinova
Computerlinguistik
Universitaet des Saarlandes
W-6600 Saarbruecken 11
phone: (0049) (681) 302 4504
e-mail: taniacoli.uni-sb.de

 State University of New York at Stony Brook
 Stony Brook, NY 11794-3355

 Robert Hoberman
 Comparative Studies Dept.
 516-632-7462, -7460
 02-Jan-1992 11:26am EST
TO: Remote Addressee ( _linguisttamvm1.tamu.edu)


	This is in response to Wayles Browne's inquiry about expressions like
"a ... and a half". THE WORLD DICTIONARY OF HEBREW SLANG, by Dahn Ben-Amotz
and Netiva Ben-Yehuda (1973) lists the following on p. 77, under the entry
/vaxeci/ 'and a half' (in my translation from Hebrew):

"VAXECI ['and a half'], an addition to a noun or adjective, which emphasizes
the quantity: and even more so, more than perfect, more than the maximum.
STUPID AND A HALF. MOYSHE AND A HALF (very tall). I'M RIGHT AND A HALF. A:
HE CAME OUT OF IT EXHAUSTED, RIGHT? B: WHAT DO YOU MEAN EXHAUSTED; EXHAUSTED
AND A HALF! WE DIDN'T SEE A SINGLE LIVING BEING, EXCEPT FOR TWO AND A HALF
POOR DONKEYS."

	"Areal" connections between Israeli Hebrew and the Serbo-Croation that
Wayles Browne cited are provided by Yiddish, Ladino, and Turkish, but I don't
know whether any of these have the construction.

In >Hamlet< there appears the expression "her privates we", I believe.
(I don't have a copy handy).

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