DOTI (downgrading of text initialisms)

[Ronald Butters]

Did they merely continue on their way, or did they amble off?

On Nov 29, 2010, at 10:51 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

> At 11/28/2010 04:19 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>> And the American way is nothing new, regardless of race, etc. When I
>> was a child East Texas in the late '30's, I was accustomed to hearing
>> conversations like the following:
>>
>> A. "Hi yew? Pooty good."
>> B. "Unh-hunh. *Yo'* mama-nim?"
>> A."Dass nice."
>> B. "Yay-uh. Sho' 'nuff."
>>
>> A and B continue on their separate ways, each still totally immersed
>> in his own thoughts.
>
> OTOH (so I don't have to change the subject line), they were clearly
> not psychiatrists, for whom the narrative would have been something like:
>
> A.  Ho. Yew pooty good.  How'm I?
> B.  Dass nice. Yew pooty good too.
> A. and/or B.   Yay-uh. Sho' 'nuff.
>
> A and B continue on their separate ways, each still totally immersed
> in someone else's thoughts.
>
> Joel
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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