If I were you, I'd make yourself scarce. Was "The cops have been called. ..."

[Laurence Horn]

On Nov 9, 2011, at 10:39 PM, Neal Whitman wrote:

> "Would I run off and never tell me where I'm going?" Henry Higgins, _My Fair
> Lady_
> 
> "If I were you, I'd realize that I
> Love you more than any other guy.
> And I'd forgive the lies that I
> Heard before, when you gave me no reply."
> Lennon/McCartney, "No Reply"
> 
> "If I could put myself in your shoes, I'd walk right back to me."
> "Put Yourself in My Shoes," performed by singer Clint Black

And the classic minimal pair from George Lakoff (1972):

 I dreamed I was Brigitte Bardot and I kissed me.
vs.  I dreamed I was Brigitte Bardot and I kissed myself.
(different kissing scenarios)

> 
> Interesting pronoun choices in the imaginary world where you're someone
> else, and yet still maintain your current identity. And reflexives are no
> good when they cross the different identities for "I/me": "If I could put
> myself in your shoes" is fine, but "I'd walk right back to myself" is not.
> Wilson's is interesting because "If I were you I'd make MYSELF scarce"
> sounds OK and is in fact the more normal-sounding one (which I assume is why
> the "yourself" version caught his attention).
> 

True, but as I was just mentioning to Wilson offline, there are 49 other hits for this precise wording, "I'd make myself scarce".  And many googlable hits for related cases like "I wouldn't hold your breath (if I were you)" and similar cases.  (Here too, as Neal would point out, "I wouldn't hold my breath (if I were you)" is an equally good option.)

LH 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Wilson Gray" <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2011 9:41 PM
> Subject: "The cops have been called. ..."
> 
> 
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail
>> header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      "The cops have been called. ..."
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> "If I were you, I'd make yourself scarce."
>> 
>> (Dialog from a cop opera.)
>> 
>> --
>> -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
> 
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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