Cullum on morphology

From Larry Horn (through some intermediaries), two cartoons by the great gag cartoonist Leo Cullum on the theme of English morphology:

  (#1)

That’s retox, on the model of detox (a clipping of detoxification), occurring in the idiomatic PP in detox. So the man on the left is retoxifying, returning to drinking alcohol.

  (#2)

That’s boned the PSP of the verb bone ‘remove the bone(s) from’ (though it could in principle also mean ‘supply with bone(s)’), a verbing of the noun bone; and deboned the PSP of the verb debone ‘remove the bones from’, with the derivational prefix de- of removal, reversal, or separation. So yes, the same thing.

Cullum on this blog:

7/3/10  We need to talk (link): a Cullum cartoon on the evolution of language

5/12/12  Gag cartoons (link): 4 Cullum cartoons, plus a brief writeup about him

10/16/12  Subtexting (link): a Cullum cartoon on texting and subtexting

4/3/13  Eggs over easily (link): a cartoon in the style of  Cullum, on grammatical peeving

 

2 Responses to “Cullum on morphology”

  1. Chris Says:

    sorta like “flammable” and “inflammable” I spoze

  2. Jens Fiederer Says:

    “Boned” has a secondary meaning (“fucked”) that “deboned” lacks

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