Why subjunctive?

[Laurence Horn]

>Given the mention of hypercorrection in that paragraph, I'm guessing LH was
>employng irony.
>
>Bill P

Um, yeah.  Context is everything, or at least something.

LH

>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Jocelyn Limpert" <jocelyn.limpert at GMAIL.COM>
>To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Sent: Thursday, August 12, 2010 10:47 AM
>Subject: Re: Why subjunctive?
>
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>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       Jocelyn Limpert <jocelyn.limpert at GMAIL.COM>
>>Subject:      Re: Why subjunctive?
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>>
>>"between you and I"?  not "me"?
>>
>>On Thu, Aug 12, 2010 at 10:43 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: Why subjunctive?
>>>
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>>>
>>>At 1:25 PM +0000 8/12/10, ronbutters at aol.com wrote:
>>>>Why not?
>>>
>>>Well, the prescriptive rule, such as it is, is that subjunctive would
>>>be used in this context just in case the speaker/writer was
>>>presupposing a counterfactual situation in the antecedent, in this
>>>case that there is never a place in need of more comedy and less
>>>comity, and that's clearly not presupposed. Presumably the author
>>>believes that there are many such places, of which the Senate is the
>>>foremost.  But just between you and I, the spread of subjunctive to
>>>non-counterfactual if-clauses is another stalking horse of
>>>hypercorrection that's long since left the barn.
>>>
>>>LH
>>>
>>>
>>>>------Original Message------
>>>>From: Bill Palmer
>>>>Sender: ADS-L
>>>>To: ADS-L
>>>>ReplyTo: ADS-L
>>>>Subject: [ADS-L] Why subjunctive?
>>>>Sent: Aug 12, 2010 5:45 AM
>>>>
>>>>The opening sentence of an opinion piece
>>>>in today's NYT:
>>>>
>>>>If ever there were a place in need of more comedy, and less comity,
>>>>it's the U.S. Senate.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Bill Palmer
>>>>
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>>>>
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