cannot: OED pronunciation again

[Wilson Gray]

On Jan 17, 2005, at 9:28 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: cannot:  OED pronunciation again
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>
> At 5:41 PM -0800 1/17/05, Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:
>> On Jan 17, 2005, at 4:02 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>
>>> On Jan 17, 2005, at 1:49 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>>>
>>>> ... As far as the Johnny Mac sort of case
>>>
>>> Et _tu_, Laurentie?! Nope, it can't be happening. Clearly, "[a]s far
>>> as
>>> the Johnny Mac sort of case...." must be a lapsus for "[a]s for the
>>> Johnny Mac sort of case...."
>>
>> see:
>>
>> Rickford, John R.; Thomas A. Wasow; Norma Mendoza-Denton; & Juli
>> Espinoza. 1995. Syntactic variation and change in progress: Loss of
>> the
>> verbal coda in topic-restricting _as far as_ constructions. Lg
>> 71.1.102-31.
>>
>> arnold, *not* a co-author
>
> Aha--there I am in the vanguard again.  Either that, or it was a
> lapsus.  I forget which.
>
> larry
>

Sigh! Unfortunately, Lar, you're hardly in the vanguard. As far as "as
far as NP" without "is concerned" is concerned, it's been around for so
long that you may well be in the rearguard. Who knows? Like
"irregardless," it may just die out. Actually, let me restructure that.
*I* haven't heard anyone say "irregardless" in years, but my social
life is not what it was fifty years ago. I don't get around much,
anymore. So, I no longer have a clear idea of the language used in
today's American street. "Irregardless" may not have died out. By sheer
coincidence, I just haven't heard it. That's really all the farther
that I can go.

-Wilson