Heard: "I'm on *your* guys's side!" [NT]

Benjamin Barrett gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM
Wed Jan 23 09:09:07 UTC 2013


Thank you. Now I see the issue.

If my buddy is rooting for team X, then one meaning of "your guys's side" is the side of my buddy's guys. I think that's okay.

But even so, if I have two friends rooting for team X, and I am, too, then "I'm on your guys's side" sounds right. I don't think I would even say "you guys's side" though I agree that it doesn't make sense when analyzed.

Benjamin Barrett
Seattle, WA

On Jan 23, 2013, at 12:00 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 2:13 AM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>> If that's the plural second person possessive, that sounds right to me, but what do the asterisks mean?...
>
> Stress, like,
>
> "I'm on YOUR guys's side!"
>
> as opposed to those guys's side.
>
> You would say "on your guys's side" and not "on your side" or "on you
> guys' side"? You'd combine the two, using "you guys's"? Interesting.
> You wouldn't write the combo version, though, right?

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list