second-person pronouns redux

[Peter A. McGraw]

You don't (or didn't useta) have to go to Arkansas to hear "X and them."  I
remember hearing it in Wilsonville, OR, when it was a rural backwater back
in the 50s.  I always understood it to mean "X and the rest of X's family."
So "Marian and them" meant Marian and any or all of her family.  If the
person had meant Marian and her husband, he/she would have said "Marion and
Bob."  I don't think "Marian and them" would have referred to Marian and
any unrelated third party who happened to tag along.  I haven't heard it in
years and don't know whether it's still used in the sprawl city that
Wilsonville has since become, or anywhere else in these parts.

Peter Mc.

--On Wed, Mar 1, 2000 9:55 AM -0600 Bonnie Osborn Briggs
<BBriggs at LATTE.MEMPHIS.EDU> wrote:

> Yes, everyone goes to great lengths to make a case for ya'll being
> either plural or singular, depending on their convictions, but the ever
> popular them has always fascinated me.  It's sort of like a safety net -
> in case Joyce and Francis show up with a third party that you really
> weren't expecting.
>
> Bonnie Briggs
> The University of Memphis
>
> Peter Richardson wrote:
>>
>> We could extend this to third-person pronouns as well. I know many people
>> around Monkey Run, Arkansas (also known as Pilgrim's Rest--near Cotter
>> and Flippin, if you've got your maps out) who will refer to two people,
>> usually a married couple, as "X and them": "When are Joyce and them
>> [Joyce and her husband Francis] coming over?"
>>
>> Peter Richardson



****************************************************************************
                               Peter A. McGraw
                   Linfield College   *   McMinnville, OR
                            pmcgraw at linfield.edu