grammatically speaking...

[FRITZ JUENGLING]

>>> LBNath88545112 at AOL.COM 01/08/03 02:50PM >>>
I think "explain me what you mean" probably is a calque on "explique-moi".
That's the only explanation I can find for it.  And that doesn't make it
grammatical English to my mind.  And I heard it again today.
    "Open me a beer" seems to be "for me"

Not necessarily.  In German, such constructions are common and they were more common in English a looong time ago.   As the dative and accusative cases merged, prepositions started doing more work.  This type of sentence 'open me a beer' is probably a relic of the use of the dative without a preposition.  "Explain me what you mean" does not bother me as much as it seems to bother others who have responded--probably because I am a German speaker (and have had quite a bit of experience with OE).  German: Erklaer MIR, was du meinst.  I even find myself saying such things in English periodically.
Fritz Juengling


and not "to me" as in the first
case.  Does "close me the window" work??

Lois Nathan