Finally!

[Laurence Horn]

At 12:56 PM +0000 9/24/07, ronbutters at aol.com wrote:
>What does "black enough" have to do with it? 
>Surely "fuck over" is common English slang 
>--without regard to race? There is nothing 
>whatever remarkable about this expression that I 
>can see. Cf. "look over" etc. Wilson seems 
>merely to be reporting on his personal, 
>idiosyncratic taste. Or is his "dialect" widely 
>shared--and limited to AAVE?
>
>I have no trouble with, say, "They tried to fuck 
>the government over." It may be that Wilson's 
>example feels a little awkward because it is 
>directly followed by a restrictive relative 
>clause.
>
>Moreover, it is in fact not only possible but 
>actually obligatory to have "fuck NP over" where 
>NP = a pronoun (as in "Don't fuck me over").

or, in the words of the poet [alternate version],

DON'T FUCK ME OVER
(Cy Coleman / Carolyn Leigh)

Recorded by: Louis Armstrong; Lucille Ball; Teresa Brewer;
Doc Cheatham; Rosemary Clooney; Cy Coleman; Bing Crosby;
Vic Dana; Kate Dimbleby; Judy Garland; Gene Krupa;
Lester Lanin; Peggy Lee; Karen Mason; Johnny Mathis;
Jessica Molaskey; Bobby Short; South Shore Concert Band;
Mel Tormé; Jerry Vale; Julie Wilson.

Don't fuck me over
Lend me an ear
Fresh out of clover
Mortgage up to here
But don't pass the plate folks
Don't pass the cup
I figure whenever you're down and out
The only way is up

LH

>-------------------------
>
>Wilson Gray wrote:
>
>
>
>Lest the point be missed, for those of us old 
>enough (and/or black enough?), ... [fuck NP 
>over] is absolutely *not* a viable or a 
>grammatical
>alternative to [fuck over NP]. Unless, of course, you speak a
>different dialect.
>Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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