[Ads-l] _try to_ vs. _try and_

[Laurence Horn]

Sent from my iPhone

> On Dec 16, 2017, at 5:50 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> I was taught this as well.
> 
> But I always say "and."
> 
> And I always right "to."
> 
But you sometimes wrong “and”?
> 
> On Sat, Dec 16, 2017 at 4:39 AM, Margaret Lee <
> 0000006730deb3bf-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> 
>> Yes, I was taught to use 'try to' rather than 'try and'.   The old
>> 'proper English' mandate, but what exactly is 'proper English'?  Who
>> decides what is 'proper'?   Are any of you familiar with the Max Weinreich
>> quote:  "A language is a dialect with an army an a navy" ?
>> --Margaret Lee
>> 
>>    On ‎Saturday‎, ‎December‎ ‎16‎, ‎2017‎ ‎12‎:‎04‎:‎23‎ ‎AM‎ ‎EST,
>> Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>> 
>> I was somewhat intrigued to find, in Am.Sp., Vol.81, No.3, an article with
>> the following title:
>> 
>> Why Does Canadian English use _try to_, But British English Use _try and_?
>> 
>> Not having read the article, I have no answer to that question. However, I
>> *can* answer the question, "Why do _I_ use _try to_ and not _try and_?"
>> 
>> The answer is simple. I was specifically *taught* not to use _try and_,
>> because the construction is semi-literate and déclassé, used only by the
>> ill-taught lower orders. The well-educated, better classes use only _try
>> to_, as one of many small ways in which their use of language demonstrates
>> their command of proper English.
>> 
>> Didn't none of y'all get taught this class distinction, I reckon.
>> 
>> --
>> -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
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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