Hot news perfect question

[Benjamin Barrett]

That is a funny coincidence!

And here again, it looks like the form is correct but not the grammar.

The intended meaning appears to be "I want to go see him right now",
which does not match, at least not according to Wikipedia.

On Nov 17, 2009, at 7:56 AM, Robin Hamilton wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Robin Hamilton <robin.hamilton2 at BTINTERNET.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Hot news perfect question
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Serendipitously, moments after reading this post, I found myself, in
> the
> process of transcribing an eighteenth century play, _The Prison
> Breaker_
> (Anon., 1724), typing the following: (The speaker is "Blunder, an
> Irishman".)
>
> ****************
>
> _Blun_.  Well And [?] where is this same _Sbeppard_?  I want to be
> after
> seeing him, for they say he'll be hang'd soon, and then the Devil
> won't see
> him.
>
> ****************
>
> Now isn't that a strange coincidence, my heart?
>
> Robin Hamilton
>
> (Looking again at the barely legible photocopy I'm working from, it's
> possible the above should begin, ""Well _Ara_ where is this same ...")
>
>> I think that "I'm after knowing X" can mean "I've just found out
>> X", but
>> I'm no expert. Anyway this interpretation doesn't particularly make
>> sense
>> in the context you cite. Is there any reason to believe this is an
>> authentic usage and not some "Mock Irish English"? After all, the
>> after-perfect is a stereotype of Irish dialects along the lines of
>> invariant 'be' for African American English, and the latter shows
>> up all
>> the time in grammatically inappropriate (per AAE grammar) contexts in
>> made-up samples of African American usage (e.g. It be hot today).
>>
>> -Matt Gordon
>
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