star in

Damien Hall halldj at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU
Wed Oct 31 23:58:55 UTC 2007


Spotted in today's (31 October 2007) *Metro*, Philadelphia edition, as the
caption  to the picture in the 'TV tonight' section (p20):

'Stella (Melina Kanakaredes) and Mac (Gary Sinise) star in "CSI: NY."'

For me, the subject arguments and their adjuncts are the wrong way around in
this sentence.  In my dialect, I would have to say 'MK (Stella) and GS (Mac)
star in ...', because it's the actors who are doing the starring, not the
characters;  the sentence as quoted implies that it is the characters doing the
starring.

Neither *OED* nor *MW* lists this permutation of arguments for *star in*.  Does
it strike others as unusual?  Has anyone heard it before, in which case it
might be an incoming variant?

Damien Hall
University of Pennsylvania

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