"due to" and "general"

[Wilson Gray]

Now that I've given it more thought in the sobering light of day, what
I've done is to attempt to conflate "due to" with "due to the fact
that," due to the fact that it seemed to be a brilliant insight, at
the time. I've never seen or heard anything like "due to they are
nasty" before. Constructions like "due to the fact that they are
nasty," OTOH, are probably innate. I don't know that I've ever seen
any examples of it in print, but I probably incorporated "due to the
fact that" into the first sentence that I ever spoke.

-Wilson

On 8/30/06, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "due to" and "general"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Wilson, are you sure they admonished you against constructions like,
>
>   1. "due to they are nasty" ?
>
>   The only "due to" prescription I ever heard of opposed things like,
>
>   2. "Game cancelled due to rain."
>
>   There's a difference in function here.  I don't recall ever seeing the "new" "due to" addressed.  For me, 2 is normal (as is the prescriptive "The cancellation is due to rain"), but 1 is nearly unimaginable.
>
>   JL
>
>
> Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Re: "due to" and "general"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Prescriptivists - this is not a reference to anyone here, of course -
> have been fighting this battle since at least the '40's, when I was in
> elementary school. The phrase, "due to (the fact)" = "for the
> following reason," is practically a shibboleth of BE, due to the fact
> that *everybody* uses it. Wouldn't nobody not use it.
>
> OTOH, the fact that you young whippersnappers consider this to be new
> and worthy of note suggests that the prescriptivists came damned close
> to winning this particular battle. I feel for them. :-(
>
> -Wilson
>
> On 8/29/06, Chris F. Waigl wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: "Chris F. Waigl"
> > Organization: rather inconsistent
> > Subject: Re: "due to" and "general"
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On Tue, 2006-08-29 at 15:19 -0700, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >
> > > "We shall them [viz., women] 'those who are dangerous to see, due to
> > > they are nasty'" (p. 36).
> > >
> > > I have seen this "due to" in freshman writing used as a synonym for
> > > "because; for the reason that" (as distinct from "because of"), but
> > > OED doesn't include it.
> >
> > I have a picture documenting the following use of "due to" on a
> > laser-printed sign in an upscale-ish deli in London:
> >
> > ----
> > Roasted chickens are temporarily unavailable at present due to chicken
> > oven out of order.
> > http://flickr.com/photos/lascribe/138332083/in/set-72057594117390961/
> > ----
> >
> > Chris Waigl
> >
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> >
>
>
> --
> -Wilson
> ––
> Everybody says, "How hard it is that we have to die"––a strange
> complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>
> --Sam Clemens
>
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--
-Wilson
––
Everybody says, "How hard it is that we have to die"––a strange
complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.

--Sam Clemens

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