I shall be 17

[Douglas G. Wilson]

At 02:58 PM 4/13/01 -0400, you wrote:
>Jim Walker <Jim.Walker at UNIV-LYON2.FR> writes:
>
> >>>>>
>Would any of you out there share this judgement, that
>
>I SHALL be 17 next month
>
>is a definite no-no?
><<<<<
>
>Ugh! -- as far as US English is concerned.
>
>To me (USA, born 1948) it sounds definitely English. That is, I can't think
>of it without hearing it in some British accent. In US speech it is indeed,
>imho, a definite no-no. Outside of formal writing, including I think
>certain legal usages, "shall" is dead west of the Pond.

The question wasn't whether the sentence would be infrequent or unusual in
many regions/contexts; the question was (I think) whether it is "absolutely
impossible". The fact that it strikes one as British itself implies that
one has encountered its like and that one takes it to be current somewhere
(viz., in Britain): thus it's hardly "impossible". The sentence in American
speech might strike me as a hypercorrection ... perhaps the speaker desires
to sound extremely mature/sophisticated (being almost seventeen, after all).

Also consider "We shall overcome" or "I shall be released" [Bob Dylan IIRC]
or even "Well, we shall see." These don't seem so odd to me. But then,
alas, I shan't see seventeen again ....

-- Doug Wilson