[Ads-l] from the Times again

[George Thompson]

Whenever I eat caviar, I always mix it with grits.

But anyway, isn't this crisis coming from struggling to find a way to say
"If a person really likes caviar, and also likes grits, HE should try
eating them together" so that the easily disturbed won't be disturbed?
When writing (and in a position to reshape my utterances so as not to
offend the fastidious), I usually will think to form such a sentence thus:
"If people really like . . . THEY should. . . .  "  Is it proposed that
that statement could be formed "If a person really likes . . . , Y'ALL
should. . . ." and the fastidious will be contented?
"If Y'ALL really like . . . , Y'ALL should. . . ." does work, but is no
different from "If YOU . . . , YOU should. . . .", exploiting the fact that
in American English, which doesn't use the pronoun "one", "you" is either
the person spoken to, or an imaginary, typical, John Q. Public.

Speaking of disturbing the easily disturbed, am I the first to point out
how disturbing the expression  "John Q. Public" is?  Surely the
tender-minded must want an epicene first name here?  In speech, Jean/Gene
Q. Public.  In writing, I can't call an example to mind, being only half
way through my first cup of coffee.  There is always Barkevious, of course.

GAT

GAT

On Sat, Apr 16, 2016 at 6:24 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sat, Apr 16, 2016 at 5:10 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > "Chris wants y'all to give y'all more caviar and grits"
>
>
> "Chris wants me to give me more caviar and grits"
>
> "Chris wants them to give them more caviar and grits."
>
> Hmm. You're right. Wouldn't anybody ever serve caviar and grits in the same
> meal.
>
>
> --
> -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
>



-- 
George A. Thompson
The Guy Who Still Looks Stuff Up in Books.
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998..

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org