Embarrassingly Enough, ...

Benjamin Barrett gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM
Fri May 4 03:49:16 UTC 2007


(I have to change the beginning of this e-mail to avoid it from being
rejected)

Benjamin Barrett wrote:
> This doesn't strike me as particularly odd, though when closely
> scrutinized, it seems ungrammatical.
>
> Is there a difference between "to be embarrassed of (noun)" and
> something like "he's embarrassed of who he is" and "she's embarrassed
> of her mother"? Other than whether the following phrase is
> non-sentient or sentient phrase, I can't see one.
>
I should have mentioned that I find "he's embarrassed of who he is" and
"she's embarrassed of her mother" to be the correct way to put these
expressions and that "about" sounds ungrammatical.
> Doug Harris wrote:
>> I find this usage odd as well as unusual:
>> A sign seen this evening near Scranton PA, advertising
>> a company that does something to/for bathrooms:
>>
>> "[Are You] Embarrassed of Your Bathroom?"
>> --
>> Of?
>> 'Coulda been poetic license, I guess, though I think
>> they could have fit three more letters on the sign so
>> as to suggest embarrassment ~about~ one's bathroom.
>> (the other) doug

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