What clothes smell like


After you use the right detergent, they should smell like new.

Posted February 26, 2007 to Constructing, Linguistics

2 Comments so far

  1. Ben Zimmer on February 28th, 2007

    OK, I get “(verb of sensation/existence) like new/normal” and “(verb of action) like mad/crazy”, but how does “regular” fit in exactly?

  2. Russell on February 28th, 2007

    “Regular” seems to pattern with “new” and “normal”. I wasn’t expecting it when I searched, but examples seemed normal enough to warrant inclusion. Could be more of a British thing.

    “i need to get a new computer before we can start talking like regular again.” (myspace)

    That first group also can appear after “to”, as in “back to normal/regular”; maybe they have some other noun-like distributions.

    “Then when you exit, just do a few ‘Ctrl’+'Alt’+'-’, and you will be back to regular again. =)” (linuxquestions.org)

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