Fwd: druthers

[Pafra & Scott Catledge]

I would rather>I'd rather>I'd ruther>I druther fight than switch.  More
commonly found in "If I had my druthers."  Probably obsolescent in most
urban dialects of English--as is "in my stead" and similar expressions such
as the distinction between bring and fetch or that and yon.
----- Original Message -----
From: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, August 05, 1999 8:44 AM
Subject: Fwd: druthers


> Since Mark, our designated forwarder of relevant Linguist List queries,
> hasn't gotten around to it yet, I thought I'd step in and forward this
one.
> The reanalysis of [I'd rather]>[druther(s)] is the sort of thing that
there
> must be intermediate evidence for, and early cites would no doubt be of
> interest.
> Replies, as usual, should go to the querier as well as (optionally) to us.
>
> >
> >LINGUIST List:  Vol-10-1155. Mon Aug 2 1999. ISSN: 1068-4875.
> >
> >Subject: 10.1155, Qs: Descriptive Grammars, druthers, Verbs/Serbian
> >...
> >-------------------------------- Message
2 -------------------------------
> >
> >Date:  Sun, 1 Aug 1999 14:55:51 GMT
> >From:  alex at compapp.dcu.ie (Alex Monaghan CA)
> >Subject:  druthers
> >
> >does anyone have an account of how "i would rather" formed "druthers" in
US
> >english? or is there a different derivation? the change from gapped
clause to
> >declinable noun seems unusual to say the least.
> >
> >comments welcome,
> >                       alex.
> >
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >...
> >LINGUIST List: Vol-10-1155
> >