Another monosyllabic base form for PSP

[Laurence Horn]

Not to be picky, but that's still consistent with it being present tense, where the previous occurring of eyelash-batting serves as evidence for the habit, disposition, or whatever.  (cf. Pitcher to batter: I'm walking you because you bat .500 against me.)   If there had been a time adverbial ("…last time/week", "before that fight", whatever), it would be undeniable.  Actually, from the context, I'm not even sure whether Romanov is citing her eyelashing-batting as the reason for Banner not coming, or as a non-reason for his coming, much less whether her batting was a prior event or an ongoing practice.

LH

On May 7, 2012, at 10:46 AM, Neal Whitman wrote:

> Yes, it was definitely referring to a previous incident in the movie, not a
> habitual action.
>
> NW
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Amy West" <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Monday, May 07, 2012 9:03 AM
> Subject: Re: Another monosyllabic base form for PSP
>
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail
>> header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: Another monosyllabic base form for PSP
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> On 5/7/12 12:04 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
>>> Date:    Sun, 6 May 2012 23:44:23 -0400
>>> From:    Neal Whitman<nwhitman at AMERITECH.NET>
>>> Subject: Another monosyllabic base form for PSP
>>>
>>> The latest (to me) example of a monosyllabic verb with a lax vowel
>>> nucleus
>>> and dental stop coda comes from the movie_The Avengers_, in which Natasha
>>> Romanov says to Bruce Banner:
>>>
>>> "You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."
>> Very interesting. . .
>>
>> Dumb question: does the context clearly indicate that the past tense is
>> intended? It sounds fine to me as a present indicating habitual/repeated
>> action. Perhaps I've just got a tin ear.
>>
>> Thanks for the blog pointers: I'll go take a look when avoiding grading.
>>
>> ---Amy MacEvilly
>>
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