Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2023 March 3

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March 3

Comical comparatives

There's a term for this joke format "I observe, you look, he leers." "I think on my feet, you improvise, she is flying by the seat of her pants." Anybody know? Temerarius (talk) 20:51, 3 March 2023 (UTC)

Emotive conjugation... (Probably originally a variation on the classic "Horses sweat, men perspire, and women glow.") AnonMoos (talk) 21:13, 3 March 2023 (UTC)

Quite a few examples were removed from the article only last week. So far unmentioned is "I invest, you speculate, they gamble" [1]. The reason for its use on this particular occasion is stated to be:

Like most parents, Artie would have preferred that his son become a professor rather than a speculator. But when some altercockers got together to shep a little naches from their kids, Artie couldn't resist some kvelling.

I assume the unfamiliar words are Yiddish. 79.78.123.57 (talk) 20:51, 4 March 2023 (UTC)

Yes. Those terms mean an old man,[2] to derive pride,[3] and feeling pride. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:11, 4 March 2023 (UTC)

I was confused about shep, but it seems that it's listed in the Wikipedia article. (The German equivalent is schöpfen, by the way.) 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 16:56, 5 March 2023 (UTC)

Here is a recent version of the article before it was weeded:[4] ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:11, 4 March 2023 (UTC)

I don't think that was the term my source used. Interesting. Temerarius (talk) 17:27, 7 March 2023 (UTC)

@Temerarius: Perhaps comic triple. Modocc (talk) 17:55, 7 March 2023 (UTC)