Before someone beats me to the punch...

[Laurence Horn]

...I meant to say generic plural *or mass* readings, as in "The rare
tends to be more expensive than the plentiful"

>Date: Wed, 2 Mar 2011 10:24:49 -0500
>To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>From: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
>Subject: Re: the rare
>
>I've always been puzzled by the fact that this only works to yield
>generic plurals--
>
>"Give me your tired, your poor,..."
>"Ye have the poor always with you"
>"The rain falls on the rich and poor alike"
>*The poor is not faring as well as the rich in the current economy.
>*A rich does not want his daughter to marry a poor.
>*The poor on the sidewalk asked me for a handou
>
>--while in, say, French, neither genericity nor plural is required
>for the nouning of "(le/un) pauvre".  This is not a new discovery,
>but as I say it's always surprised me.
>
>LH

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