swang

[James Harbeck]

Apropos of a recent topic: This morning, on the bus, I overheard some
teens talking and one guy said "I would have just swang" -- the
context made it clear that he was forming a past for the verb "swing"
and referring to swinging his fist at someone. This was a white
(Jewish, as I later learned) Canadian sixteen-year-old (he also
mentioned his age at one point in their conversation). It's
interesting to me in that even going with swing-swang-swung, you
would expect "swung" in that position. I'm not used to hearing
"swang" hereabouts (not that I hang with teens!), so I don't know if
this is evidence of any sort of real trend or current usage. But toss
it on the stack.

James Harbeck.

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