the then, the late, and in the room of (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Bill Palmer]

I've also heard "The War for Southern Independence"

Bill Palmer

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, February 11, 2010 11:19 AM
Subject: Re: the then, the late, and in the room of (UNCLASSIFIED)


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: the then, the late, and in the room of (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> Back during the Carter administration when all the "How to Speak
> Southern" books were so popular, I remember a discussion of names for
> the Civil War.
>
> Generally called "The Civil War"
> In the South, called "The War Between the States"
> In the deep South, called "The War of Northern Aggression"
> In parts of South Carolina, "The Late Unpleasantness"
>
>>
>> "Late" has always been very much alive and kicking, IME. I don't find
>> anything interesting in the examples suggested.
>>
>> However, that someone writing *formally* in *1855* should be using
>> "_the *then*_ representatives" *is*, to *me*, worthy of note, because
>> I had *long* - my entire literate life, almost - labored under the
>> misprehapprehension that this particular syntactic structure was
>> something introduced a couple of dekkids or so ago by people too
>> can't-be-bothered to write "Those who were the representatives at that
>> time" or something similar.
>>
>> -Wilson
>>
>> On Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 1:48 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net>
> wrote:
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -------------
>> ----------
>> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>> > Subject:      Re: the then, the late, and in the room of
>> >
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ----------
>> >
>> > At 2/10/2010 12:17 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>> >
>> >>Victor quotes
>> >>
>> >>"... _the then_ representatives ..."
>> >>
>> >>from1855. Amazing! Had anybody asked me, I would have WAG-ed _the
>> >>then_ from more like 1965! Youneverknow!
>> >
>> > In the previous century, one might have read "the late
>> > representatives ...", even tough they were still alive.  (That is,
>> > "late" meaning "former".)  Or "in the room of the late
> representative
>> > ...", but not meaning the new one took the old one's office!
>> >
>> > Joel
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > 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
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 8.5.435 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2681 - Release Date: 02/11/10
07:35:00

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