From Slashdot

[Matthew Gordon]

Sorry, I wasn't implying that this point of variation wasn't worth
discussing. I was just seeking confirmation of my informal observation that
"is to do" is more common in British English. If so, it is interesting to
see an American using it, and it makes me wonder if this is a bit of
Anglophilic borrowing like an American using "bollocks" or plural verbal
agreement with collective nouns. I gather that's partly why you, Wilson,
mentioned it.


On 12/13/07 8:10 AM, "Wilson Gray" <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> You may have a point there, Matthew, WRT Br v. Am variation. But isn't
> that what dialectology is about? Had _has to do_ been spoken by an
> American and _is to do_ been spoken by an Englishman, the difference
> may wee not have caught my attention. But that wasn't the case. Both
> speakers were American. Even merely within the US, there are many
> variations, up to the point of ungrammaticality. Cf., e.g.:
>
> "You sank my boat!"
>
> A. "No I never!"
>
> B. "No I didn't!
>
> For me, A is almost laughingly ungrammatical in this context, though
> I've been hearing  people speak that way for about 65 years. I've
> simply never been able to get ready for the A version. I just can't
> feature it.
>
> -Wilson
>
> On 12/11/07, Gordon, Matthew J. <GordonMJ at missouri.edu> wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Gordon, Matthew J." <GordonMJ at MISSOURI.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: From Slashdot
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> --
>>
>> I'm not sure why Wilson's pointing this out exactly. Isn't the variation =
>> between "is to do" and "has to do" British vs. American?
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Wilson Gray
>> Sent: Tue 12/11/2007 6:27 PM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject:      From Slashdot
>> =20
>> "The problem _is to do_ with the power-saving systems ..."
>>
>> -Wilson
>> --
>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
>> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> -----
>>                                               -Sam'l Clemens
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
> --
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -----
>                                               -Sam'l Clemens
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org