The ultimate "you guys"

[Alice Faber]

I was assuming one date at a time, but he was addressing a group of
potential daters.

On 7/15/12 4:38 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> "to your enticement" ?
>
> Another victory for Inglish!
>
> I don't see anything odd about the "you guys," though.  Or do I
> misunderstand "distributive"?
>
> JL
>
> On Sun, Jul 15, 2012 at 3:01 PM, Alice Faber <faber at haskins.yale.edu> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Alice Faber <faber at HASKINS.YALE.EDU>
>> Organization: Haskins Laboratories
>> Subject:      The ultimate "you guys"
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>   From a Great Lakes State Craigslist M-looking for-F personal listing,
>> linked to for purposes of mockery on one of my forums,
>>
>> "If these things are to your enticement, and maybe give you the lady
>> tingles, then let's roll, you guys."
>>
>> It's not just that "you guys" here has exclusively female reference, it
>> has an odd distributive meaning.
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


--
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Alice Faber                                       faber at haskins.yale.edu
Haskins Laboratories                            tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
New Haven, CT 06511 USA                               fax (203) 865-8963

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