Constructions in STREUSLE

[nschneid]

Use this thread to make note of interesting constructions where a words-with-spaces MWE analysis is unsatisfying because there is constrained productivity in certain parts of the expression.

`$ makes it easy to find idioms with an opaque possessive slot (e.g. "quick on X's feet").

[nschneid]

a good MEASUREMENT

Colloquial. "Good" is inserted after the indefinite article in a measure expression to emphasize the largeness or fullness of the quantity. Often "good" is followed by a quantifier + noun.

Less colloquial alternative: "Full".

STREUSLE attestation: "after a good few minutes"

• Issue: normally a_few is treated as an MWE. Is that still the case here?

Durations

• it took a good long while
• it took a good 10 minutes
• *it took a good hour/eternity

No quantifier

• Wait a good hour before eating (WordReference)

Non-temporal quantities

• There were a good many people at the meeting. (Merriam-Webster)

Definite article

• ?The good hour that I sat in the waiting room was ridiculous.

[nschneid]

WH (in) the hell

Colloquial. Inserting "in the hell" or "the hell" after a question word expresses surprise/indignation.

STREUSLE attestation: "why in the hell would you name your business something that has the initials KKK"

Treating why_in_the_hell as an MWE, but it could also be what/who/where/how.

It sounds odd to do this if the WH-word is the object of a preposition:

• ??From where in the hell did you get that?
• ??Until when in the hell will this party be going on?

Free relative clauses are better:

• I don't know how in the hell we're supposed to finish in time.

See http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/aue/thehell.html (John Lawler)