[Ads-l] "which" = 'who'

[Jonathan Lighter]

But that was in olden days.

JL

On Sun, Oct 23, 2022 at 5:21 PM Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:

> And then there's God:  "Our father which art in heaven . . . " (KJV).
>
> --Charlie
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2022 4:34 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: "which" = 'who'
>
> [EXTERNAL SENDER - PROCEED CAUTIOUSLY]
>
>
> 1857 Frederick Law Olmsted  _A Journey through Texas_  (N.Y.: Dix &
> Edwards) 34: One evening we were hailed in the darkness to come in and take
> some freight aboard.  It proved to be a negro woman _which_ her master
> wished to send to Nashville.
>
> The italics presumably mean that this was the actual "illiterate" word
> used.
>
> JL
>
> On Wed, Oct 12, 2022 at 12:27 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> >
> https://naval-encyclopedia.com/naval-aviation/ww2/us/vought-sb2u-vindicator.php
> > <
> https://naval-encyclopedia.com/naval-aviation/ww2/us/vought-sb2u-vindicator.php
> >
> >
> > "Mechanics, which after each mission had to patch these with bands of
> > tape, ended calling them 'Wind Indicators'."
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Wed, Sep 7, 2011 at 9:14 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> -----------------------
> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> >> Subject:      Re: "which" = 'who'
> >>
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> His voice was very even and confident. It did not sound like a slip. The
> >> student exx. I used to see occasionally didn't seem like slips either.
> Nor
> >> did they refer to de-animated individuals.
> >>
> >> I doubt too whether many people would think, "I saw a corpse  - I mean a
> >> lady! - which had slumped over on the table."
> >>
> >> JL
> >>
> >> On Wed, Sep 7, 2011 at 9:01 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu
> >> >wrote:
> >>
> >> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> > -----------------------
> >> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> > Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> >> > Subject:      Re: "which" = 'who'
> >> >
> >> >
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >> >
> >> > On Sep 7, 2011, at 8:53 PM, Spanbock/Svoboda-Spanbock wrote:
> >> >
> >> > > If she was dead, maybe it was a slip? Dead people aren't exactly
> >> > > persons in the same way.
> >> >
> >> > I think it was Jim McCawley who pointed out the difference between:
> >> >
> >> > the corpse which/*who was sprawled on the table
> >> > the dead person (dead lady, dead man,...) who/*which was sprawled on
> the
> >> > table
> >> >
> >> > But maybe not everyone shares these judgments.
> >> >
> >> > (Of course, "dead body" works like "corpse":  the dead body which/*who
> >> was
> >> > sprawled on the table.)
> >> >
> >> > LH
> >> >
> >> > >
> >> > > On Sep 7, 2011, at 12:15 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >> > >
> >> > >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> > >> -----------------------
> >> > >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> > >> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> >> > >> Subject:      "which" = 'who'
> >> > >>
> >> >
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >> > >>
> >> > >> Eyewitness to Carson City IHOP shootings, on CNN: "I saw a lady
> >> > >> which had
> >> > >> slumped over on the table."
> >> > >>
> >> > >> Guy (on phone) otherwise well-spoken, sounds white, not young. But
> >> > >> not old
> >> > >> enough to be a speaker of Middle English, either.
> >> > >>
> >> > >> I used to see this occasionally in freshman themes more than twenty
> >> > >> years
> >> > >> ago. It would not occur to me in ten million years to use "which"
> in
> >> > >> this
> >> > >> way.
> >> > >>
> >> > >> 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
> >> > >
> >> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> > > 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
> >>
> >
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
>
>
> --
> "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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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