try and?

Herbert Stahlke hstahlke at WORLDNET.ATT.NET
Fri Apr 18 02:56:17 UTC 2003


I should read the whole thread.  Then I'd know that the "take and"
construction had already come up.

Herb

 Duane Campbell writes:

>For absolutely no rational reason, I have always had the sense that this
>is related to the "take and" construction, as in "       ...
>
>We'll, that's interesting. I can't think of a proper example. My
>grandmother, rural Pennsylvania, died 40 years ago, would always say,
>"Take and [do something]."  But at the moment the only examples that come
>to mind contain some kind of literal, if unneeded, use of "take."  "Take
>and wash that glass."   I'm sure she used it as an empty filler phrase,
>but when I try to put it in that context, it doesn't ring true. Well,
>it's been several decades.
 ~~~~~~~~
I have often heard this construction from  people in various parts of the
country, but usually rural, and older than myself ( I am in my seventies).
It always seemed to me to suggest taking the matter in hand, or taking up
as a responsibility rather than picking up physically.  It doesn't seem to
have survived in the way "try and" has.  I hear "try and" in the mouths of
people of all ages.
A. Murie



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