"own it for a limited time"

[Baker, John]

        Yes, that's what I was saying.  But you say it so much more
nicely.

John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Laurence Horn
Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 10:54 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: "own it for a limited time"


I think these are different.  The first three all make explicit what I
was claiming is implicit in the would-be "Own it for a limited time"
(non-)example we began with, viz. the "you can".  The point is that the
"for a limited time" in those cases specifies the finiteness of the
interval over which this potential exists--after that time, you can't
buy/own it.  See the various google hits for "You can buy it for a
limited time", or "Buy it for a limited time at just $___", where again
the finiteness goes with the availability of the offer, not the length
of time you will then possess it.

The last example above, though, does involve the ownership being itself
for a finite period, and indeed that's what's being objected to.

Larry

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