plural people

[George Thompson]

LH observes: > Don't we mean "players of the kind instantiated by Mantle and
> DiMaggio" rather than referring to those specific players themselves?

That is sometimes the sense, when "the Mantles" is used to indicate a
generic Hall-of-Famer.  But it seems to me that I also hear it as just
an odd way of refering to a specific individual.  This is the sense I
take from the words quoted from the Sing Sing keeper.

My association of this with baseball broadcasts may arise from either
the fact that it was a trick of speech used by one particular
broadcaster only that I happen to have heard, or the fact that I do not
watch television except for occasional baseball games nor listen to
radio broadcasts except for baseball and music shows that feature little
talk.

I will also say that I posted this, having come upon it, in the thought
that it exemplified a turn of speech that might be of interest to some,
and cannot be searched for in the databases.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

----- Original Message -----
From: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
Date: Wednesday, April 12, 2006 1:38 pm
Subject: Re: plural people

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

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