"Obsolete," but still in use

[Jonathan Lighter]

I'd call the "me" usage colloquial.  Uninterestingly, I'm not sure if I use it.

JL

Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Wilson Gray
Subject: Re: "Obsolete," but still in use
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Isn't "Me, I really like that" pretty standard? I also would use such
a locution without giving it a second thought. But then, I thought
that, e.g. "Can't anybody stay with her" was standard till I was in my
middle thirties. For me, "Can't _nobody_ ..." would have been the
non-standard form. You never know.

-Wilson

On 9/23/06, Alainna Wrigley wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Alainna Wrigley
> Subject: Re: "Obsolete," but still in use
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On 9/22/06, Clai Rice wrote:
> > My students
> > agree that Mr. or Miss. with the first name is normal and respectful
> > usage, and most think that both uses are peculiarly Cajun.
>
> I'm inclined to agree with your students. My grandmother, hailing from
> Vacherie, LA, would be turning in casket to hear me address someone
> outside our family (or a close friend) without "Miss" or "Mr.", though
> I'd be hesistant to refer to most priests as "Fr. X" (I'm simply too
> young). My friends in New Orleans think this usage overly formal and
> "country."
>
>
> On 9/22/06, Wilson Gray wrote:
> > OTOH, she occasionally would say things like, "I really like that, me." Until I
> > heard her use formations like this, I had assumed that only white
> > Louisiana Cajuns used such locutions in English.
>
> Goodness, no! There's a huge crossover. (Me, I tend to place it in the
> beginning though.)
>
>
> Alainna
>
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>


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