LL-L "Prepositions" 2003.03.13 (02) [E]

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Preposition

Folks,

Until I came to the United States, it was written in stone for me that there
was a difference between "to wait for" and "to wait on": if you wait *for* a
person you wait for him or her to arrive or do something, and if you wait
*on* a person you act as his or her waiter, serving meals or drinks.  Lately
I have been hearing "to wait on" used more and more in the first sense as
well (e.g., "I'm waiting on the bus.").  I was under the impression that
this was a feature of many dialects of the southern states (including
Appalachian?), and I hear it, among other "Southernisms" in certain African
American speech modes in the northern states.  However, I am now under the
impression that it is fast gaining general acceptance and is spreading, at
least up here in the Pacific Northwest.  Has anyone else noticed this?  Any
theory about this change?

Similarly, lately I seem to be hearing "to believe on" instead of "to
believe in" more often than I did before.  I used to associate "to believe
on" with Southern speech as well.  It seems to be archaic to some people,
and indeed, it is found in the King James Bible; e.g., ...


   "And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be
saved,
   and thy house." (Acts 16:31)

So I assume that "believe on" occurs or occurred in certain British English
dialects as well.  What about "wait on" in the sense of "wait for"?

I never heard "wait on" (in the sense of "wait for") and "believe on" used
in Australia, as far as I can remember.

What about Scots?

Thanks for thinking about it.

(Why, just now somebody, a born and bred Northwesterner, said to me, "Let's
wait some more on that!"  However, in this case it seems to be different,
because "on that" here means "in/regarding that matter".)

Cheers!
Reinhard/Ron

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