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[Wilson Gray]

> It still seems weird.

True. But, without the _-'s_, it's merely a variant of the forty-year-old
phenomenon that was once considered to be stylistically and logically
"ungrammatical," During the War-Years.

If you live long enough actually to see your language deteriorating - er,
_evolving_ - right before your very eyes, it can be disconcerting, if not
seriously annoying. E.g., an actress in a commercial has just said, "Teach
them to love _themself_." And this is hardly a unique example. The
replacement of _-selves_ by _-self_ appears to be proceeding apace.


On Fri, Jul 27, 2018 at 7:55 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hmm.
>
> It still seems weird.
>
> JL
>
> On Thu, Jul 26, 2018 at 10:46 PM Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > But
> >
> > > the apostrophe
> >
> > s in _our's_ is the only thing that makes the sentence interesting.
> >
> > On Thu, Jul 26, 2018 at 6:04 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> >
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Well, maybe they left out the apostrophe. Like "whose,"the usage of
> which
> > > seemed to baffle many, it was an infrequent construction
> > >
> > > But otherwise....
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > > On Thu, Jul 26, 2018 at 2:31 PM Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > > Usage pretty familiar to me from undergraduates forty years ago.
> > > >
> > > > Students routinely wrote "any of _our's_ children" aut sim. forty
> years
> > > > ago?! I've heard and read, "She could be any of _our_ children," et
> > sim.
> > > > for all too long.
> > > >
> > > > Youneverknow.
> > > >
> > > > Remember the olden days when people used strange constructions like,
> > "She
> > > > could be the child of any one of us"?
> > > >
> > > > On Thu, Jul 26, 2018 at 11:02 AM Jonathan Lighter <
> > > wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> > > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Usage pretty familiar to me from undergraduates forty years ago.
> > > > >
> > > > > JL
> > > > >
> > > > > On Wed, Jul 25, 2018 at 11:30 PM Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > "She could have been any of our’s child."
> > > > > >
> > > > > > [Full disclosure: the writer is my second cousin, once removed.]
> > > > > >
> > > > > > --
> > > > > > -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
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > --
> > > > > "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
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > -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
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > "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
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > -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
> >
>
>
> --
> "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
>


-- 
-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