BE syntax

[Margaret Lee]

Regarding "eating on,"  I grew up in central VA (late 50's, early 60's) hearing my parents use this to refer to a food that would last for several days, for example, "We will have these collards to eat  on all week."

Margaret Lee


Wilson Gray <hwgray at EARTHLINK.NET> wrote:
One night, while listening to The Blues Express, a program carried by
XPRS, a powerful, semi-legal radio station with its offices in Del Rio,
TX, but with its transmitter located in Mexico, I heard the DJ say:

"I'm just sitting here, eating me some potato chips."

The very next night, I heard the same DJ say:

"I'm just sitting here, eating on me a hamburger."

FWIW, my intuition is that he made this distinction because potato
chips come as relatively small, individual pieces that can be eaten in
one bite, whereas a hamburger can be eaten only piecemeal, hence
requiring several bites.

-Wilson Gray


Margaret G. Lee, Ph.D.
Professor of English & Linguistics
  and University Editor
Department of English
Hampton University, Hampton, VA 23668
757-727-5769(voice);757-727-5084(fax);757-851-5773(home)
margaret.lee at hamptonu.edu   or   mlee303 at yahoo.com

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