[Ads-l] "Does She Have _A_ TikTok?"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Interesting topic, Martin. Here are some examples collected from twitter:
"a myspace", "a facebook", "a twitter", "an email", "an Instagram", "a tiktok"

https://twitter.com/omg_zoeyy/status/23161146
Timestamp: 12:12 AM · Aug 28, 2007
Twitter handle: omg_zoeyy @omg_zoeyy
[Begin tweet text]
do you have a myspace?
[End tweet text]

https://twitter.com/dancerbabe1331/status/231668472
Timestamp: 12:48 AM · Aug 28, 2007
Twitter handle: dancerbabe133 @dancerbabe1331
[Begin tweet text]
Do you have a facebook?
[End tweet text]

https://twitter.com/osestosis/status/822086327
Timestamp: 7:43 PM · May 28, 2008
Twitter handle: Clayton Yocom @osestosis
[Begin tweet text]
@macfan406 Do you have a twitter?
[End tweet text]

https://twitter.com/ShawnWreck/status/872706771
Timestamp: 12:01 PM · Jul 30, 2008
Twitter handle: ShawnWreck @ShawnWreck
[Begin tweet text]
@coreymol do you have an email where I can send the links for the
videos on how to do it..
[End tweet text]

https://twitter.com/aphototaker/status/13071139735609344
Timestamp: 10:22 PM · Dec 9, 2010
Twitter handle: Ada Hernandez @aphototaker
[Begin tweet text]
@helloimcole1234 thanks! Do you have an Instagram?
[End tweet text]

https://twitter.com/ReianaErich/status/1027720320470282240
Timestamp: 8:56 PM · Aug 9, 2018
Twitter handle: erich reiana @ReianaErich
[Begin tweet text]
Jojo do you have a tiktok
[End tweet text]

 Garson

On Wed, Mar 31, 2021 at 9:23 PM Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The same with “an insta” and “a Facebook". BB
>
> > On 31 Mar 2021, at 18:13, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
> >
> > Seems like “Does s/he have a Twitter” (i.e. account) may not be unheard of.  I just tried “Do you have a twitter” -account, and got hits for that, although some false positives of the form “Do you have a Twitter buddy?”
> >
> > LH
> >
> >> On Mar 31, 2021, at 7:05 PM, Martin Purdy <00000bd8cf391c5b-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> wrote:
> >>
> >> I do recall my kids saying "xyz has *a* Facebook" rather than just "Facebook" or "a Facebook account".  I must check if they still consider it current.
> >> Martin NZ'
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>   On Thursday, April 1, 2021, 11:32:20 AM GMT+13, Martin Kaminer <martin.kaminer at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> I'm perplexed by the use of the indefinite article, mostly but not
> >> entirely by young people, when asking if someone is active on a
> >> particular social media platform. This seems more common with
> >> platforms preferred by younger people -- instagram, tiktok etc. -- and
> >> less say Facebook (I don't recall anyone ever saying "Does she have
> >> _a_ Facebook?" and certainly not "Does he have _a_ Gmail?").  I've
> >> interrogated several GenZ's about this and they seem clear that this
> >> is correct and are aware that this syntax elides the word "account"
> >> (They are actually asking "Does she have a TikTok account"). I
> >> understand colloquially dropping the word 'account', but inseting the
> >> indefinite article continues to perplex me. Does anyone have any
> >> theories?  One young social media aficionado insisted there is a
> >> distinction to be made between asking whether someone has an account
> >> on a particular platform and whether they have the app on their phone
> >> but I found this unconvincing.
> >> All explanatory suggestions welcomed.
> >> ~~ Martin Kaminer
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org