Did with/did to (heard on NPR)

[Michael Covarrubias]

On Oct20, 2010, at 6:24 AM, Barbara Need wrote:
>
> …Thomas' wife sent a message (e-mail?) to Anita hill
> asking her to apologize for what she "did with" Mr.
> Thomas.
>
> My first reaction was to wonder if Mrs. Thomas thought that Ms. Hill
> and Mr. Thomas had engaged in sex and was asking for an apology. If
> she were asking Ms. Hill to apologize for having accused her husband,
> I would have expected "did to." Are there dialects in which "did with"
> would refer to the accusation rather than the act?
>
> Barbara
>

at least in my dialect it's possibly acceptable. (midwest, mostly michigan)

i might expect "did with" if she meant something close to what my wife means when she asks what i "did with the leftovers." — sometimes i show them utter disrespect.

something between that and a question like "what did you do with" this or that situation.

but the first reading, of consensual behavior, did jump out at me first.

michael

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