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<font size="2"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> </span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">L O W L A N D S - L - 11 September 2007 - Volume 07</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Song Contest: <a href="http://lowlands-l.net/contest/">lowlands-l.net/contest/</a> (- 31 Dec. 2007)</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
========================================================================</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">From: Danette & John Howland <
<a href="mailto:dan_how@msn.com">dan_how@msn.com</a>></span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Subject: LL-L "Grammar" 2007.09.06 (02) [E]</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">(Quote) In Scots a staircase is referred to as the "stair", eg "up the stair", </span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">"doun the stair" for upstairs and downstairs, it's long-established</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
usage. I don't know whether that would influence American idiom or not.</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
This reminds me of a rather morbid rime--I refuse to spell it
"rhyme"--about the infamous "resurrectionists" (this is from memory, so
please correct me).</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
</span><em style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Up the close and doun the stair</em><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><em style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> But an ben with Burke and Hare</em><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<em style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> Burke's the butcher</em><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><em style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> Hare's the thief</em><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<em style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> Knox, the boy that buys the beef</em><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
By the way, in my dialect of Alaska English, from as far west as you can go in the U.S., </span><em style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">stairs</em><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
always has the plural form except in combination: stairwell, stairway.
I suppose you could argue that stirrup (stair-rope) is an exception.</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
Also, scissors, trousers, pants are always treated as plurals. I've
heard "a scissor" and "pant leg" but I always thought this marked
someone as being from somewhere else.</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
Does anyone know when the word </span><em style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">battery</em><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"> in the sense of electrical storage devices became singular?</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">Thanks,</span><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;">
John<br><br>----------<br><br></span></font>
<font style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;" color="black" size="2"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black;" lang="EN-ZA">From: R. F. Hahn <<a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
sassisch@yahoo.com</a>><br>Subject: Grammar<br><br>Hi, John!<br><br>How nice of you to join us! Welcome to the speakers' corner!<br><br>We need to hear more about language in Alaska, and, you know, I believe there are some sorts of wrens at least in the south of that beautiful state ...
<br><br>Cheerio!<br><br>Reinhard/Ron</span></font><font size="2"><br style="font-family: arial,sans-serif;"></font>
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