FREE REALIZATIONS

In Sections 6.3 and 6.4, I looked at frames where there is some vestige of lexical stability: in contrast, the clusters in this section are more extreme. There are a very few cases where the lexis is routinely varied without any apparent limits, while the frame or syntagmatic structure and

pragmatic/discoursal intention remain fixed. Fillmoreet al. ( 1988: 505ff.) include these amongst their category of 'formal idioms', which they define as 'syntactic patterns dedicated to semantic and pragmatic purposes not

knowable from their form alone'. Their example is the frame

the + COMPARATIVE + the + COMPARATIVE

as in the more carefully you do your work, the easier it will get. They point out that formal idioms may coincide with substantive or lexically frozen idioms such as the bigger they come, the harder they fall or the more the merrier, as in the case of binomials.

Another such frame can be realized as Am I right or am I right?

Here two identical rhetorical questions are conjoined for emphasis: the addressee's agreement is pre-empted. Similarly, a frame which involves a rhetorical question, to which the answer is obviously yes, may be produced in answer to a question considered unnecessary. Some formulations are:

Is the Pope Catholic?

Does a bear shit in the woods? Do ducks swim?

Does Dolly Parton sleep on her back?

Sadock ( 1974: 138-9) describes these as pseudo-questions to be interpreted as hints rather than affirmatives, and points out

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restrictions on both use and variation. Morgan ( 1978: 278) adds a variation with the reverse polarity, Do bagels wear bikinis?, and analyses it in terms of conventionalized implicatures: 'Answer an obvious yes/no question by replying with another question whose answer is very obvious and the same as the answer you intend to convey.'Conventionalized formulations are occasionally blended (meaninglessly if detached from their origins), as in Is a bear

Catholic?, or exploited allusively in the certainty of sylvan ursal defecation.

More creative formulations are rife: for example, several recent advertising campaigns make use of the frame. An advertisement for TSB was built around a rap-rhythm song which largely consisted of a series of such questions, and involved an FEI manipulation in Are two short planks thick?, while a cigarette advertisement included Do giraffes have long necks? The interest lies in the variation; the frame is consistent.The frameQUANTIFIER + NOMINAL GROUP +

short/shy + of + NOMINAL GROUPis used to indicate mental inadequacy or

mild insanity. A conventional representation is one card short of a full deck, but variation is almost mandatory. The following examples are taken from various sources: 3

a couple of blocks short of a building set a few beers short of a six-pack

a few bricks shy of a full load a few clowns short of a circus

a few fries short of a Happy Meal (TM) a few marbles short of a Parthenon a few peas short of a casserole a few pickles short of a jar

a few planes short of an Air Force a few sandwiches short of a picnic a few semitones short of an octave a few tiles short of a successful re-entry a flying buttress short of a cathedral a six-pack short of a case

four cents short of a nickel

nineteen cents short of a paradigm one bit short of a byte

one board short of a porch ____________________

3_{At the time of writing, a monthly canonical list of these so-called}

"'Fulldeckisms'" is published on the Internet bulletin board: rec.humor Other sites accessible via the Internet and World Wide Web are similarly collection points for such expressions.

one bun short of a dozen

one Froot Loop shy of a full bowl one hot pepper short of an enchilada one marble shy of a full deck

one sentence short of a paragraph one shingle shy of a roof

one side short of a pentagon

one taco short of a combination plate one tree short of a hammock

three fish short of a lawnmower two coupons short of a blender two flakes shy of a Post Toastie two saucers short of a tea-service two slices short of a toast rack

The creativity, humorousness, and unusualness of the realization is important, but it relies on recognition of the underlying frame and schema. There is some semblance of convention in that the first nominal group represents something without which the second, in some context at least, is incomplete or impossible (one bun short of a dozen, one tree short of a hammock). There are also cases of surrealism or deliberate incongruence (three fish short of a lawnmower) and intertextuality of realization (one marble shy of a full deck). Most are heavily culture-dependent, as are realizations of another frame 4 I'm + busier + than

+ COMPLEX NOMINAL GROUPThe nominal group represents a person with connoted or implied problems through overactivity. Again, variation is near mandatory and intended for humour. The following selection demonstrates the preponderance of sexual and cultural references: many others include topical allusions to people in the news for sexual misdemeanours or criminal acts:

IBT (I'm busier than) a bar of soap at San Quentin IBT a condom dispenser in Greenwich Village IBT a dog with two dicks

IBT a five dollar hooker IBT a flea in a dog pound IBT a gopher on a golf course

IBT a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs IBT a one-armed paperhanger

IBT a one-legged basketball player IBT a prostitute in a prison

IBT a toilet in Grand Central Station IBT a two-peckered billy goat

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4_{These realizations are taken from a collection on the World Wide Web.} -160-

IBT a woman in the mall with her husband's credit card

IBT Captain James T. Kirk with three-breasted hookers on Risa IBT handicapped parking at the Special Olympics