Believe on me: WTF?

[Leslie Savan]

I don't know of studies, but for a few years now I've been hearing "It's on
you" and "It's on me," and they don't mean lunch. They mean "the ball's in
your court," "it's my responsibility," but more pumped up. Big in sports:
"It's a different system and a different offense and it's on me to catch
up," said [Kevin Curtis]. (from NBCSports.com. 8/28)
       This "on," of course, doesn't replace the "in" in "Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ." If that wasn't simply a typo, maybe the "on" functions
as it does in "carry on" or "keep on keeping on." "Believe on" as a
noncynical "dream on"?


----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Peters" <markpeters33 at YAHOO.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2007 2:29 PM
Subject: Believe on me: WTF?


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Mark Peters <markpeters33 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Believe on me: WTF?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
>
> Yesterday, I saw these words painted on the side of a building in Chicago:
>
>   "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ..."
>
>   "Believe on"? Is there some trend in preposition use that might make
sense of this? For years, I've been seeing student writers use "on" in ways
that sound godawful to me. Anybody know of any studies about broader use of
"on"?
>
>   Mark
>
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