it doesn't behoove you

[Lynne Murphy]

I don't really see why the Ciudad Juarez example is remarkable.  Seems like
an application of the sense 'be advantageous'.  It would not be an
advantage to you to go to CJ. And an easily accessible implicature from
that statement is: 'it would be a disadvantage to you to go'.

Lynne


Dr M Lynne Murphy
Senior Lecturer in Linguistics
Director of English Language and Linguistics
School of English
Arts B348
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QN

phone: +44-(0)1273-678844
http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com

--On den 2 september 2010 21:00 -0400 Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> I should have indicated that I hear it on TV news, not in "real life."
>
> JL
>
> On Thu, Sep 2, 2010 at 8:44 PM, 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: it doesn't behoove you
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> -------
>>
>> I, OTOH, am not even certain that I've heard the word, "behoove,"
>> spoken, *ever*. However, I've long been familiar with the term as it
>> is used in literature. As a consequence, I've made a concerted effort
>> always to be hoove in all aspects of my life, for at least the past
>> half-century.
>>
>> -Wilson
>>
>> On Thu, Sep 2, 2010 at 7:43 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> > Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster: Â  Â  Â  Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> > Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: it doesn't behoove you
>> >
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> -------
>> >
>> > I can't tell you how long I've been hearing this. A long time.
>> >
>> > JL
>> >
>> > On Thu, Sep 2, 2010 at 1:27 PM, Paul Frank <paulfrank at post.harvard.edu
>> > wrot=
>> > e:
>> >
>> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> >> -----------------------
>> >> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> >> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Paul Frank <paulfrank at POST.HARVARD.EDU>
>> >> Subject: Â  Â  Â it doesn't behoove you
>> >>
>> >>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> -=
>> > ------
>> >>
>> >> Overheard on NPR about two hours ago: "It doesn't behoove you to go to
>> >> Ciudad Ju=E1rez." From the context it was clear that this didn't mean,
>> >> "It's not your responsibility/it's not incumbent upon you to go to
>> >> Ciudad Ju=E1rez," but rather "you'd be a damn fool to go to Ciudad
>> >> Ju=E1rez because it's a dangerous place."
>> >>
>> >> Paul
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Paul Frank
>> >> Translator
>> >> German, French, Italian > English
>> >> paulfrank at post.harvard.edu
>> >> paul.frank at bfs.admin.ch
>> >>
>> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --=20
>> > "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
>> â€"â€"â€"
>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"â€"â€"a strange
>> complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> â€"Mark Twain
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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