"Is it" appended to questions

[Joel S. Berson]

I meant an "is it" appended to questions.

In my instance, the writer definitely knew that the person went to
Harvard.  I understand the writer's "is it" as reiterating the
question, as in "You're embarrassed because ...? Is that it?"

Joel

At 5/12/2007 12:20 PM, you wrote:
> >A friend wrote me in email
> >
> >>I hadn't heard anything about the story.  However, I assume that you
> >>sympathize with him even though you may be embarrassed that he lives
> >>in Arlington and went to Harvard, is it?
> >
> >What regions/dialects is such an "is it" regional to?  Welsh, for one?
> >
> >Joel
> >~~~~~~~~~
>  Without being quite sure what you mean by "_such_ an 'is it' ",  my guess
>in this case is that the "is it" only applies to Harvard: that the writer
>isn't entirely certain that it mightn't be BU or MIT.
>AM
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>Cut & Run? ........... You bet!
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org