[Ads-l] fuck them

Benjamin Barrett mail.barretts at GMAIL.COM
Mon Aug 29 20:11:03 UTC 2016


Thank you. I didn't know what word. Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jussive_mood) doesn’t give any English examples. Are sentences like “May it rain today!” and “May he be well!” considered jussive? BB

> On 29 Aug 2016, at 12:54, Tim Stewart <timoteostewart1977 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> I would think more jussive than desiderative.
> 
> Tim
> 
> 
> 
> On Mon, Aug 29, 2016 at 2:41 PM, Benjamin Barrett <mail.barretts at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> I always assumed “fuck you” is an imperative, but it’s not clear what is
>> being commanded (unless it means something vague like “go jump in a lake”),
>> and even more to the point, the form “fuck them” surely cannot be
>> imperative.
>> 
>> Is this a subjunctive desiderative such as “May it rain today!"? I don’t
>> know what else to call these forms.
>> 

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