fun with pronouns

[Robin Hamilton]

<<
From: ronbutters at AOL.COM

Well of course they do. So what?
>>

It's rather endearing, though.  For pronominal confusion, it rivals the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for 755 on Cynewulf and Cyneheard.  But that
particular entry may have been based on a lost oral alliterative text.
Dunno what excuse MSNBC have.

(We may also have the earliest recorded instance of a bran-new sex-crime --
wilfully spilling secrets on the Internet.)

Robin
_____________________________________________

------Original Message------
From: Victor Steinbok
Sender: ADS-L
To: ADS-L
ReplyTo: ADS-L
Subject: [ADS-L] fun with pronouns
Sent: Dec 7, 2010 6:00 AM

MSNBC's article on Asange's arrest contains the following sentence:

http://goo.gl/g1ajN
> His lawyer had earlier arranged to deliver him to British police for
> questioning in a sex-crimes investigation of the man who has angered
> Washington by spilling thousands of government secrets on the Internet.

"His", "him" and "man who..." all refer to the same person.

     VS-)

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

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