"um-weird"
Wilson Gray
hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Sat Sep 12 23:47:28 UTC 2009
Well, that is sort of the point with this use of um-, too, Alison.
It's like writing, quite facetiously, "Well, you know that this has to
do with porn, but I'd really rather not go to any depth into how it is
that I just *happen* to know anything at all about about that
particular topic," since, of course, everyone knows how it comes to be
the case that a person has acquired a certain expertise in that field.
;-)
-Wilson
On Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 7:28 PM, Alison Murie <sagehen7470 at att.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Alison Murie <sagehen7470 at ATT.NET>
> Subject: Re: "um-weird"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> THis particular interpretation of um- is news to me. I use "Um." or
> "Um," facetiously, usually to imply something like "it goes without
> saying," or "as you know." If this has led to misreading of some of
> my posts, put it down to ignorance on my part.
> AM
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
--
-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.
-----
-Mark Twain
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