Sharing . . .

[Charles Doyle]

Over the weekend, I heard an NPR "headline" that announced, "Democrats get ready to share power with President Bush."  That sounded backwards to me.  Thinking about it, I am able to apprehend both the grammar and the sense of the construction, and the OED documents its historical standing.  Still, so predominant has been the parental and (pseudo-)psychotherapeutic use of the verb "share (with)" that it now seems--in my mind--largely reserved for what the current POSSESSOR (of power, wealth, information, feelings, toys) would do.

--Charlie

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