From Slashdot

[Wilson Gray]

You may have a point there, Matthew, WRT Br v. Am variation. But isn't
that what dialectology is about? Had _has to do_ been spoken by an
American and _is to do_ been spoken by an Englishman, the difference
may wee not have caught my attention. But that wasn't the case. Both
speakers were American. Even merely within the US, there are many
variations, up to the point of ungrammaticality. Cf., e.g.:

"You sank my boat!"

A. "No I never!"

B. "No I didn't!

For me, A is almost laughingly ungrammatical in this context, though
I've been hearing  people speak that way for about 65 years. I've
simply never been able to get ready for the A version. I just can't
feature it.

-Wilson

On 12/11/07, Gordon, Matthew J. <GordonMJ at missouri.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Gordon, Matthew J." <GordonMJ at MISSOURI.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: From Slashdot
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I'm not sure why Wilson's pointing this out exactly. Isn't the variation =
> between "is to do" and "has to do" British vs. American?
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Wilson Gray
> Sent: Tue 12/11/2007 6:27 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject:      From Slashdot
> =20
> "The problem _is to do_ with the power-saving systems ..."
>
> -Wilson
> --
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -----
>                                               -Sam'l Clemens
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens

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