x and them

[Anna M Fellegy]

Glad to "have a witness" to the presence of "X and them" in Minnesota. My
experience is in a German-American community, and "X and them" is such a
common feature in my vernacular that it seems "normal."

Anna Fellegy

 On Wed, 1 Mar 2000, Beverly Flanigan wrote:

> I am indeed an Olson from Minnesota by birth, and members of my family do
> use "X and them" frequently, with both subject and object meanings (I
> wouldn't, of course, being an old fuddy duddy prescriptivist in my youth):
> Are John and them coming?  It's for John and them.  (Come to think of it, I
> believe it's more common in subject position.)
>
> However, the usage is common in creoles too, as an inclusive plural
> marker.  Mary Shepherd, interviewed for the "Story of English" video series
> of some years ago, refers to a plantation family as "the Smith dem."  I
> suspect there's no limit on the potential number included.
>
> At 09:38 PM 3/1/00 +0100, you wrote:
> >This is probably a (very) long shot, but I think it's interesting that the
> >phrase "X and them" has a 100% equivalent in (old, rural) Danish ("X og
> >dem") - and since I read a Canadian university thesis on "The Influence of
> >Danish in North American English" I've been on the lookout for such
> >otherwise inexplicable expressions that deviate from standard (American)
> >English.
> >
> >So, everybody related to any -(s)sen's or -(s)son's just MIGHT find a
> >plausible explanation in their ancestry. In Danish "them" mostly covers family.
> >
> >However, as Scandinavians mainly settled in the (mid-)West (and not in the
> >South), this may, after all, be a long shot too far off the mark.
> >
> >Erik Moldrup
> >Denmark
>