Mine's

[ronbutters at AOL.COM]

Your dolly has black hair, but mine's is brown.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis Preston <preston at MSU.EDU>

Date:         Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:59:49
To:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject:      Re: [ADS-L] Don't let's


What's the apostrophe for? This is surely by analogy with his, hers,
yours, its, ours, and theirs, being the odd guy out (no -s).

dInIs

>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
>Subject:      Re: Don't let's
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>"Mine's" meaning "mine".
>
>That's mine's. BB
>
>Benjamin Lukoff wrote:
>>  On Wed, 16 Jan 2008, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>>
>>
>>>  Another example where I probably disagree with many on this list is the
>>>  use of "mine's". Many probably would find it ungrammatical, yet it is
>>>  acceptable to me as a part of Asian-American Seattle culture, which I
>>>  was surrounded by as a teenager.
>>>
>>
>>  "Mine's"? Can you elaborate? I'm a (part) Asian-American from Seattle
>>  (born and raised) and can't quite place it. (I was a teenager from 1988 to
>>  1995.)
>>
>>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>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

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