Is this you?

[David A. Daniel]

It certainly applies universally to golf balls, as in, you and your buddy
are looking at two balls and, pointing at the nearest ball, one says, "This
is me, that's you over there behind the tree." Re identifying your
train/bus/car stop, I just heard it on a Big Bang Theory rerun last night.
Girl on the train being harassed by Raj et al, the loudspeaker announces
their arrival in Santa Barbara and she says, "That's me!" and hurries off
the train. I know, BBT is written at least partially by a New Yorker, but
I've heard it and used it everywhere. Cars, certainly. You point to a car
and say, "That's me." or ask, "Is that you?" In sum, I don't think it's New
Yorkese.
DAD


Poster:       "Gordon, Matthew J." <GordonMJ at MISSOURI.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Is this you?
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FWIW my intuitions agree with Larry's, and I'm not a New Yorker. The first
scenario that came to mind was in reference to a house or office; e.g.
you're walking down the street (or maybe riding a bus) with someone and you
reach their house/building so they say "Well, this is me".

Matt Gordon
________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of
Laurence Horn [laurence.horn at YALE.EDU]
Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2014 7:32 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Is this you?

Depends on what "this" is, I'd think.  For cars, it's pretty widespread,
i.e. "Is this/that you?" meaning 'Is this/that your car?'  With a socket
wrench and a Phillips head screwdriver at the hardware store, I'm not so
sure.

LH

On Jan 28, 2014, at 8:14 PM, Michael Newman wrote:

> Is the expression "this is me" meaning "this is mine" (etc. for you, etc)
limited to NYC and environs?
>
> I've been hearing it for a while, and my husband asked me if it's an NYC
thing. I just heard it in the following exchange, and thought I'd better ask
before putting it in my NYC English book, which I'm sending off again as
soon as I get this issue settled yea yea.
>
> Setting Hardware store with a bunch of products on the counter.
>
> Store guy to me: "Is this you?"
> Me: Nah
> Other customer: "This is me."
> Store guy: "OK"
>
>
>
> Michael Newman
> Professor of Linguistics
> Department of Linguistics and Communication Disorders
> Queens College/CUNY
>
> mnewman at qc.cuny.edu
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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