More on substituting

[Wilson Gray]

On Sun, Aug 14, 2011 at 8:33 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> Goncharoff and Lighter have their own variety
>>of English, in which reversed "substitute" has no place. Â so they're
>>insisting on understanding other people's varieties in terms of
>>their own, disregarding other people's clear intent -- essentially,
>>intransigently *refusing* to understand. (this is uncooperative and
>>inconsiderate as well as silly -- especially silly when the usage
>>seems to be spreading fast in the U.S., in contexts well beyond its
>>original British sporting context.)

Be that as it may, I agree with Goncharoff and Lighter. If that usage
is spreading, then that's too bad for us. IAC, as the Russians say,

"Privychka svyshe nam dana."

We don't have to like it, but, as is the case with any other
trivial-but-sucking aspect of life, we'll have to deal.

Nevertheless, WTF is wrong with substituting

"May I ask you a question?"

for

"I have a question"

?



--
-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

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