"Methamphetamine prose"

[Jonathan Lighter]

It may be ancient. I'd mainly use it to avoid a following infinitive
phrase.  "Remember about IP" is that you don't have to think of a precise
and unnecessary IP.

"Did you remember about the groceries?" = "Did you remember to go to the
grocery store and buy groceries?"

"Did you remember about Comcast?" = "Did you remember to phone Comcast and
tell them to get somebody over here to fix the cable pronto?"

I would not say, "Do you remember about the Carter administration?" ( =
simply remember it). The "remember about" construction implies something
specific that is yet to be expressed.

If "remember about"  occurs solely in the presence of contextual clues to
precisely what's intended, it probably isn't a lexical unit. It's just
"remember" plus "about."

JL


On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 12:58 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Methamphetamine prose"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I'm in agreement, Essentially, I've kinda-sorta-maybe decided to
> re-route my written syntax into the direction of my spoken syntax. Or
> not. It matters not. WTF, eh?
>
> -Wilson
>
> On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 9:21 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: "Methamphetamine prose"
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Sounds perfectly normal to me. In fact, I'm sure I say it.
> >
> > I have no idea how long I've said it. All my life? Possibly not, but a
> long,
> > long time.
> >
> > Would be surprised to see it in formal prose though. The writing part of
> my
> > brain tells me it's nonstandard
> >
> > JL
> > On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 9:04 PM, Randy Alexander <
> strangeguitars at gmail.com>wrote:
> >
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> >> -----------------------
> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster:       Randy Alexander <strangeguitars at GMAIL.COM>
> >> Subject:      Re: "Methamphetamine prose"
> >>
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 9:26 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> > Back in the '70's I read an article about speed that contained an
> >> > anecdote something like this:
> >> >
> >> > Instead of working on 25-page paper due at eight o'clock the next
> >> > morning, guy is getting down with his old lady. Suddenly, he remembers
> >> > about the paper and freaks. ...
> >>
> >>
> >> I don't know why, but in contrast to most people on this list, who seem
> to
> >> be more attracted to lexicographic phenomena, I seem to be more
> attracted
> >> to
> >> syntactic phenomena.
> >>
> >> Googling "remember about" and looking at the first ten results, all of
> them
> >> have "remember" as a transitive verb where the object is fronted, and
> >> "about
> >> X" is a modifier.  But here, Wilson is using "remember" as an
> intransitive
> >> verb, with "about X" as a complement.
> >>
> >> Does anyone have anything to say about the distribution of this usage?
> >>
> >> --
> >> Randy Alexander
> >> Jilin City, China
> >> Blogs:
> >> Manchu studies: http://www.sinoglot.com/manchu
> >> Chinese characters: http://www.sinoglot.com/yuwen
> >> Language in China (group blog): http://www.sinoglot.com/blog
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > 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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>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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