blame

[Laurence Horn]

"To exist or not to exists, that exists the question".  Has a certain
ring to it.

Or Popeye Prime:  I yexist what I yexist.

LH

>... exist.
>
>m a m
>
>On Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 4:50 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>  I think, therefore I ... what??
>>
>>  DanG
>>
>>  On 7/16/2010 1:12 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>  > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>  -----------------------
>>  > Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter<wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>>  > Subject:      Re: blame (was: Prescriptivism and the cinema)
>>  >
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>  >
>>  > Jesse informed me of this eccentricity many years ago.  The movement was
>>  > called "e-prime" (for "English Prime," of course).  The name is chosen
>>  > to suggest that the perpetrator knows math as well as English.
>>  >
>>  > AFAIK, no one has successfully achieved the e-prime state in extended
>>  > utterance. But it remains a manic ideal for some.  God knows why.
>>  >
>>  > Am too lazy to Google, but I bet there's lots to see.
>>  >
>>  > JL
>>  >
>>  > On Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 11:49 AM, Charles C Doyle<cdoyle at uga.edu>
>>   wrote:
>>  >
>>  >
>>  >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>  >> -----------------------
>>  >> Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  >> Poster:       Charles C Doyle<cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
>>  >> Subject:      Re: blame (was: Prescriptivism and the cinema)
>>  >>
>>  >>
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>  >>
>>  >> Regarding the way prescriptions and proscriptions "contaminate"
>>  seemingly
>>  >> related usages (and if I've mentioned this before, I apologize):
>>  >>
>>  >> We all know that good writers supposedly shun copulas (or passive
>>  >> constructions), preferring the vigorous, virile active voice. Well, my
>>  son
>>  >> in high school had an English teacher who banned ALL uses of the verb
>>  "be,"
>>  >> including its use as an auxillary. "I am writing a message" would have
>>  to
>>  >> become "I write a message"--not quite English!
>>  >>
>>  >> --Charlie
>>  >>
>>
>
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