Grandson of "is is"

[Wilson Gray]

On Sat, May 7, 2011 at 12:03 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 Grandson of "is is"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Last year I alerted you to the "son of 'is is'." Â Today on NPR a faormer law
> student and White House intern, agae about thirty, excalimed:
>
> "I'll tell you what happened was!"
>
> This was followed by a pause long enough to show that a new thought/sentence
> was about to begin.
>
> (He did not say, "I'll tell you - what happened was, blah blah blah blah
> blah blah.")
>
>
> JL
> --
> "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
>

Well, you have to understand that what it is is, is that the speaker
needed an extra second or two to collect his thoughts.

(For real, y'all! The above sentence does *not* grate on my ears. But
it does *look* a little strange, written down.)

--
-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