[Ads-l] weird "which"

[Baker, John]

Since there can be, and often is, more than one beginning, I don’t see the problem with “the first beginning.”


John Baker


From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2020 7:35 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: weird "which"

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Not really redundant, if it means "in the very beginning."

Or wait a minute! That's redundant too! English is messed up!

JL

On Wed, Jun 24, 2020 at 12:35 AM Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com<mailto:hwgray at gmail.com>> wrote:

> > Weird to me
>
> To me, too. This sort of thing is common among BE-speakers speaking ad-lib
> on The Jerry Springer Show. But it galls me that there are people getting
> paid to change standard English in ways of which I do not approve. The
> voice-overer who advises people to "_ex-cape_ to Las Vegas!" is at least as
> annoying.
>
> On a different, but slight-similar note, I heard a mid-twenty-ish black man
> say,
>
> "I BIN telling y'all this from _the first beginning_!"
>
> Here, what is of interest is the phrase, "the first beginning." Hearing it
> was like running across an old friend from behind the sun. Educators of all
> races, creeds, and colors have been attempting to teach little colored
> chirren that "the first beginning" is an awkward, useless redundancy at
> least since I was in the first grade, back in 1942. Despite Sister Claire
> Marie's best efforts, story-tellers inevitably opened with, "In the first
> beginning, ..."
>
>
> https://www.google.com/books/edition/Injunctions_Given_by_the_Most_Excellent<https://www.google.com/books/edition/Injunctions_Given_by_the_Most_Excellent>
> "Also, Like as the People be commonly occupied the work-day, with bodily
> labour, for their bodily sustenance, so was the holi-day at _the first
> beginning_ godly instituted and ordained, that the people should that day
> give themselves wholly to God."
> - Injunctions given by the most excellent Prince, Edward VI.
> London: Richard Grafton, MDXLVII
>
> On Tue, Jun 23, 2020 at 5:55 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com<mailto:wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>>
> wrote:
>
> > Weird to me, anyway, especially in a pricey, presumably carefully edited
> TV
> > commercial for a glamour hair product:
> >
> > "Including a full-size leave-in elixir which nine out of ten women said
> > their hair appeared thicker and fuller in just one week!"
> >
> > JL
> >
> > --
> > "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<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<http://www.americandialect.org>
>


--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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

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