[Ads-l] fuck them

[Tim Stewart]

Benjamin, I don't know. A few sources I looked into online said that
English doesn't have a jussive mood proper.

I found this interesting quotation in the OED s.v. "jussive"; interesting
distinction made here:

1846   T. H. Key *Lat. Gram.* 58   The imperative mood commands..The
jussive mood
directs.




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On Mon, Aug 29, 2016 at 3:11 PM, Benjamin Barrett <mail.barretts at gmail.com>
wrote:

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

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