-- being long -- do they serve an evolutionary purpose? Does it improve the donkey's hearing. Cfr. rabbit's ear. Or Donkey's Ears Variant: Donkeys' Ears; or the Year of the Rabbit. How _long_ can a donkey ear get? In his book on "Duration", Bergson speaks of psychological time: "A year may have 365 days, but, you'll grant some years are longer than others". It is for the longer set of years that the reference of the 'donkey' applies. Or not. In a message dated 11/24/2013 5:55:12 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, profdritchie@xxxxxxxxx writes: On Monday the jacuzzi man stopped by our house. I've limped along for donkeys' years, improvising like a Boy Scout, holding the old filters in place with bits of nut and wire and dib dib dobs. Nice. More below. Cheers, Speranza --- From: http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-don1.htm Donkey’s years Q: From Jess Paxton in the USA: Is there a story behind the phrase donkey’ s years? A: It’s a pun on donkey’s ears, they being long. The phrase, meaning a long time, is chiefly in British use, though known in the USA and elsewhere, and was first recorded in 1916 as donkey’s ears (which is why we’re sure about the punning origin). Within ten years or so it is recorded in the modern form. The idea was supported by the belief that donkeys did in fact live a very long time. ---- With McEvoy, we might discuss, but then again, not, the idea of 'rhyme'. It may be said that, implicaturally, 'year' rhymes with 'year'. I.e. I would not hold it as _false_: i. "Year" rhymes with "year". Similarly, ii. "Ear" rhymes with "year". ------ As Quinion notes, "donkeys ears" "was first recorded in 1916" -- during what I call the Great War -- as "donkey’s ears" "which is," Quinon adds, "why we are sure about the PUNNING origin)." ---- which in truncated form becomes: "it's been DONKEYS since I last saw her". ---- Rhyming slang is both 'slang' AND 'rhyming', so, whoever invented, during the Great War -- and I hope within the sound of Bow Bells for it would not otherwise count as 'Cockney' -- was meant as having 'ear' rhyming with 'year'. Now, if we admit and grant that these are homophones. Let's check pronunciation with the IPA: ear year The wiktionary gives for "ear" TWO pronunciations: (UK) ɪə̯ (US) ɪɹ Now let's turn to 'year'. Wiktionary here provides more than two pronunciations. For the UK pronunciations, Wiktionary lists two: (UK) jɪə̯ and jɜː and one US pronuciation: (US) jɪɹ As Quinion notes: "donkey's years" "... is a PUN on "donkey’s EARS", they being long." "Within ten years or so [from 1916] [the phrase] is recorded in the modern form [that D. Ritchie uses, "donkey's years"]." "The idea", or implicature, as I'd have it, "was supported by the belief that donkeys did in fact live a very long time." --- which is possibly either neither here nor there or both. Or not. Note that 'donkey's ears' does not seem to disimplicate in the singular. "Last Donkey's ear, I went to Japan". I.e. Grice allows for 'implicatures' to be 'detachable', as he puts it; but this one requires some work on Geary's part for a total or at least semi-detachment. Or not. ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html