3/27/2023 0 Comments Cunning linguist![]() ![]() Song was written by Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan and Roger Glover. ![]() It was the only way I could get a tenured gig over my more qualified colleague.“Knocking at Your Back Door” is a song by the British hard rock band Deep Purple, the first track of the album “Perfect Strangers”, which was released in September 1984. Person 2: I offered to go down on the chair of the linguistics department in exchange for the job, and she agreed. I heard that you were recently granted tenure at the university. In parting, I leave you with the only acceptable use of “cunning linguist” that I can think of: The Only Acceptable Use of “Cunning Linguist” I Can Think Of The third example is the most inscrutable (name and face removed to protect the innocent), but all three display the same conflation of “using language” with “being a linguist.” MTV Australia’s post is the most clever of the bunch, insofar as it at least makes the joke in reference to something sexual, but it’s an awfully low bar. Yet, we frequently see “cunning linguist” used like this: Someone who talks is not a linguist just because they use language. Ditto if someone comments on their Oxford comma preference, or just says something clever.įinally, a “linguist” is someone who who studies language in an academic capacity. Not to mention the primary (and most frequently used) meaning of the word “cunning” isn’t merely “skillful,” but “adept at scheming or deceit.” While a Facebook rant on the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis might justify calling the ranter a linguist, it does nothing to paint them as truly cunning. There’s really no way to drop “cunning linguist” into a context where “cunnilingus” would make equal grammatical sense, one of the marks of a truly great pun. No one is “cunning linguist.” They are “ a cunning linguist.” In contrast, “cunnilingus” is a mass noun, meaning it requires no article, and indeed, both looks and sounds really weird with one (“a cunnilingus”). But because “linguist” is a countable singular noun, it requires an article preceding it. “Cunning linguist,” as a linguistic unit, is comprised of a noun (linguist) with an adjective (cunning) modifying it. What’s more, “cunning linguist” isn’t even that good a joke, linguistically, beyond this obvious homophony. It’s easy, and dumb, and at this point quite predictable. Without getting into the gender politics surrounding the fact that even the most oblique reference to sexually gratifying a woman is considered a hilarious joke to many, let me assert that merely making an oblique reference to sexually gratifying a woman is not good humor. The primary problem with this joke is simply that it’s not funny. The idea is basically this: “Cunning linguist” both looks and sounds kind of like “cunnilingus,” which is the technical term for eating pussy. The Problem with “Cunning Linguist”īefore we get to the problem with “cunning linguist,” first we need to take a look at why in the first place people feel the need to trot it out whenever they possibly can. If you’re one of these people, I implore you. Not with anything insightful, or original, or supportive, but with something like this: Another person, upon reading or hearing it, makes a mad dash to comment. Maybe it’s not even related to language per se, but just displays an artful turn of phrase. It’s something many of us have probably seen: Some person or another makes a post on social media, or even makes a statement in real life, pertaining to language, grammar, linguistics, or the like. ![]() Warning: This post contains some mildly explicit language. ![]()
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