[Ads-l] Pied-pipe a preposition, but don't pied-pipe a particle (i.e. "up with which I will not put")

ADSGarson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Sun Jun 27 21:12:11 UTC 2021


Laurence Horn wrote:
>
> I’m surprised nobody has brought up the other classic
> put-down of the rule in question, something along the lines
> of this exchange (reproduced from memory):
>
> A: "This is the kind of tedious nonsense that I shall not put up with!”
> B: “Surely you know it’s grammatically incorrect to end a sentence with a preposition?”
> A: “Very well. This is the kind of tedious nonsense that I shall not put up with, you asshole!”

There was a thread about this type of dialogue on this list
previously. Below is the match I posted which used the insult
"meathead'.

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2019-March/154304.html

February 24, 1980, The Montgomery Advertiser

[Begin excerpt]
"Did you hear the one about the Auburn co-ed who had a blind date with
an Alabama student? To make conversation, she asked her date, "Where
do you go to school at?" He said he went to Alabama and that he was
taught there never to end a sentence with a preposition.
Replied the Auburn co-ed: "Okay, I'll change my question . . . where
do you go to school at, meathead?"
[End excerpt]

Garson


> > On Jun 27, 2021, at 3:19 PM, Neal Whitman <nwhitman at AMERITECH.NET> wrote:
> >
> > In this piece for Grammar Girl, I cover the "up with which I will not put" joke, with nods to Fred Shapiro and John Robert Ross:
> >
> > https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/up-with-which-i-will-not-put
> >
> > https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/07/04/churchill-preposition/
> >
> > The quick, dirty, and alliterative rule that did NOT make it into the final script: Pied-pipe a preposition, but don't pied-pipe a particle!
> >
> >
> > Neal
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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



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