"how about's"

[David Bergdahl]

How's about, YES!  How about's ...... ???  Let's draw the line on this one
[cheekily echoing the AHD Usage Panel]

On 10/8/06, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at umr.edu> wrote:
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "how about's"
>
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>     Just a guess: Suppose the expression arose wiith "How about us...", =
> e.g. "How about us having a pizza before we go home?"  Then, by =
> shortening of "us" to "'s" in informal speech, "How about's having a =
> pizza...?"
> =20
>      Once  "How about's" arose in this context, it could spread to other =
> contexts.
> =20
> Gerald Cohen
> =20
> =20
> ________________________________
>
> From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Arnold M. Zwicky
> Sent: Sun 10/8/2006 10:26 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: "how about's"
>
> another chapter in the "extra s" thread ("all's", "so's"): "how
> about's" for "how about".  i have no hypothesis on this one at the
> moment.
>
> <snip>
>
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