plural people

[Laurence Horn]

At 12:59 PM -0400 4/12/06, George Thompson wrote:
>Well, when we say "the Smiths are coming", we mean two or more people.
>When a broadcaster refers to "the Mantles" or whoever, when speaking of
>"playing on the same outfield grass as the Mantles and the diMaggios",
>he's only referring to one person, not to Mantle, his wife and sons.
>
>GAT

Don't we mean "players of the kind instantiated by Mantle and
DiMaggio" rather than referring to those specific players themselves?
I think the plurals really do presuppose there's an ilk, as when I
might assert my old fartness by bemoaning the absence of the
Clementes and Sniders and Mayses of the good old days.

LH

>
>George A. Thompson
>Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
>Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: FRITZ JUENGLING <juengling_fritz at SALKEIZ.K12.OR.US>
>Date: Wednesday, April 12, 2006 11:54 am
>Subject: Re: plural people
>
>>  George,
>>  out of curiosity, why does it strike you as being "pointless,
>>  inane, and stupid"?
>>  What about pluralizing names of people who are not ballplayers,
>>  e.g. "The Smiths are coming to dinner tonight" or that old phrase
>>  'Keep up with the Joneses"?
>>  fritz
>>
>>  >>> george.thompson at NYU.EDU 4/12/2006 8:16 AM >>>
>>  For msome years I have been struck (and annoyed) at the habit of some
>>  sports broadcasters of pluralizing the last names of ball-players;
>>  referring to "the diMaggios, the Mantles, the Berras" and so forth.
>>  It has always struck me as pointless, inane and stupid.  But it turns
>>  out to have a long history, as in the following:
>>
>>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org