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

Herb Stahlke hfwstahlke at GMAIL.COM
Wed Jan 23 14:56:56 UTC 2013


On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 9:56 AM, Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at gmail.com> wrote:

> Unless "you guys" has grammaticalized as a second plural pronoun, as it
> seems to have in some Northern dialects.  I know I've used expressions like
> "you guys side" but "your guys side" feels odd, with or without the "'s."
>
> Herb
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 4:09 AM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com>wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: Heard: "I'm on *your* guys's side!" [NT]
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> 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?
>>
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>>
>
>

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