Heard on The Judges: sE > to BE

[David Bergdahl]

I always flinch when "You pays your money you takes your choice" isn't
"cherse"--it's not as though this is SAE we're talkin'!!!
-db

On Tue, Apr 8, 2008 at 11:29 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Heard on The Judges: sE > to BE
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 5:02 PM +0200 4/8/08, Dennis Preston wrote:
> >Almost certainly the case, and recall that I continue to be
> >interested in people providing me with even further examples of
> >obligatory nonstandards.
> >
> >E.g.,
> >
> >What do you think of (or "How bout") them (never "those") apples.
> >
> >You the ("da") man (never "You are the man").
> >
> >/Si:It/ for metaphoric uses, but never for feces. (/SIt/ is OK for both
> uses.)
> >(/S/ = palatal sibilant)
> >
> >You can't go to "Dunking Donuts," even if you claim to never "drop your
> g's."
> >
> >Are there any obligatory "ain'ts"? Others?
> >
> >dInIs
>
> It don't (*doesn't) mean a thing if it ain't (*hasn't) got that swing.
> It don't (*doesn't) make no (*any) never mind.
> Dance with the one that brung (*brought) you
> If it ain't broke (*If it's not broken), don't fix it.
> S/he got (*has) game.
> If momma ain't (*isn't) happy, ain't nobody (*nobody is) happy.
> It ain't (*isn't) me, babe.
> Long time no see.  (* ???)
> No can (*Cannot) do.
> Say it ain't (??it's not) so.
> That ain't (?That's not) gonna (*going to) cut it.
> Badges?  We don't need no (*any) stinkin (?stinking) badges.
>    [Sorry, Fred; I know it's a misquote.]
> You pays (*pay) your money you takes (*take) your choice.
> You ain't (??You're not) just whistling Dixie.
> It ain't (??It's not) the meat, it's the motion.
> That ain't (?*That's not) hay.
> You done good.  (‚You did well.)
> Yo mamma.  (‚Your mother.)
>
>
>
>
> (YMMV)
> LH
>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> >>-----------------------
> >>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> >>Subject:      Heard on The Judges: sE > to BE
>
> >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >>Some may recall that I once claimed that, regardless of a speaker's
> >>usual register, he tends to move it toward the working-class norm,
> >>when using slang or slang-like expressions.
> >>
> >>Middle-class, black, male speaker complaining about his cheating wife:
> >>
> >>She was unbelievable, your honor! She _wadn_ cool at at all. She would
> >>call me at work to find out when I was coming home, so that she would
> >>know how much time she had to do her _thing [TaeIN]_!"
> >>
> >>-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
> >
> >
> >--
> >Dennis R. Preston
> >University Distinguished Professor
> >Department of English
> >Morrill Hall 15-C
> >Michigan State University
> >East Lansing, MI 48864 USA
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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