[Ads-l] WE KEEP US SAFE

Mon Sep 26 18:09:31 UTC 2022

Here are some examples from twitter using contrast in 2014 and 2016.

Twitter handle: Zena Sharman @zenasharman
Timestamp: 6:14 PM · Apr 7, 2014
https://twitter.com/zenasharman/status/453294835969970176
[Begin tweet]
Police & prisons don't keep us safe, we keep us safe. CeCe McDonald,
Reina Gossett & @deanspade in conversation: http://bit.ly/1impJZo
[End tweet]

Twitter handle: CWHC @CWHC1
Timestamp: 8:01 PM · Apr 10, 2014
https://twitter.com/CWHC1/status/454408764566011904
[Begin tweet]
"Prisons don't keep us safe, we keep us safe." #BecauseOfCeCe http://ow.ly/vEaRU
[End tweet]

Twitter handle: Katie Peralta Soloff @katieperalta
Timestamp: 8:13 PM · Nov 30, 2016
https://twitter.com/katieperalta/status/804131344695644160
[Begin tweet]
"Who keeps us safe? We keep us safe!" #keithlamontscott protesters
chanted at CMPD at Trade and College streets uptown
[End tweet]

Garson

On Sun, Sep 25, 2022 at 10:29 PM Mark Mandel <markamandel at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Ahh. Thanks for the detailed exposition.
>
> Mark
>
> On Sun, Sep 25, 2022, 7:59 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> > It's not really ungrammatical. As a number of linguists (me included) have
> > discussed, contrastive focus pronominals are natural and occur widely in a
> > context in which either the pronoun or antecedent contrasts with an
> > explicitly or implicitly evoked alternative--but only if the pronoun is
> > first or second person. (In the same context, names are possible, but not
> > third person non-reflexive pronouns.). Examples from a paper I published a
> > while back and an earlier one by Gregory Ward:
> >
> > a. He nods but I’m not sure he believes me. I’m not sure *I* believe me.
> >
> > (Sandra Scoppetone mystery novel I’ll Be Leaving You Always, 1993, p. 82)
> >
> > b. It was like an out-of-body experience. Nobody wanted to look at me.
> > Hell, *I*
> >
> > wouldn’t look at me either.
> >
> > (ex-Oakland A’s pitcher Dennis Eckersley, on aftermath of giving up
> > celebrated
> >
> > game-winning World Series home run to the gimpy Kirk Gibson, 15
> >
> > Oct. 1988)
> >
> > c. “New York didn’t destroy me. *I *destroyed me. I take full
> > responsibility.”
> >
> > (Darryl Strawberry, quoted in NYTMagazine p. 58, 15 Apr. 2001)
> >
> > d. “Let me toast you.” She toasted me. You’ll notice she didn’t offer me a
> > drink
> >
> > so that I could toastme. (Ed Gorman (2001), Save the Last Dance for Me, p.
> >
> > 135)
> >
> > e. “Teams are going to be waiting. People expect us to win; *we* expect us
> > to
> >
> > win.” (Jason Sehorn of the division-winning Giants, quoted in NYT 10 Sep.
> >
> > 1998, C7)
> >
> > f. “You told me, that’s the important thing. Besides, you don’t fancy you
> > like I
> >
> > do.” (from Neurotica, SueMargolis novel, 1999, p. 272
> >
> > In the cases above, it's subject contrast that's relevant, as in "*We *keep
> > us safe", contrasting with X keeps us safe for some other X that you might
> > unwisely depend on to do so. (Note example (e) above for another 1st plural
> > case.) But object contrast works too, again only for 1st and 2nd person
> > pronouns (and names).
> >
> > a. I believed in you. I always believed in you. I just didn’t believe in
> > *me*. (Blane
> >
> > to Andie, last line of Pretty in Pink, 1986  movie)
> >
> > b. “You’re looking at me like I’m some kind of monster.” I shook my head.
> > “I’m
> >
> > not looking at you. I’m looking at *me*.” (from 1994 Stephen Greenleaf
> > mystery
> >
> > novel, False Conception, p. 268)
> >
> > c. You can’t afford to pay *you*. How are you gonna pay me? (from The
> > Practice,
> >
> > ABC television drama)
> >
> > d. TAKE GOOD CARE OF YOURSELF. YOU BELONG TO YOU. (ad for Philadelphia
> >
> > Blue Cross, cited in a paper by Gregory Ward from 1983)
> >
> >
> > The last of course is possible only because it implicitly contrasts with
> > the (1929!) verse in which the same line occurs but ending with "me".
> >
> > Some examples with names:
> >
> >
> > a. JR: Cliff is in the hospital because of you.
> >
> >     Sue Ellen: No, Cliff is in the hospital because of *Cliff*. (fromDallas
> > episode)
> >
> > b. “Maybe she [= Amanda] loves the boy too much.”
> >
> >      “Amanda loves *Amanda*.” (from1985 Martha Grimes novel, The Deer Leap)
> >
> > c. “Baxter looks out for *Baxter*” [referring to a local politician;
> > implicit contrast with whom he SHOULD look out for]
> >
> >      (Philadelphia Inquirer editorial headline, 30 Oct. 1982)
> >
> > d. Jeff doesn’t run for glory. He runs for *Jeff*. (Advil commercial)
> >
> >
> > LH
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Sep 25, 2022 at 5:33 PM Mark Mandel <markamandel at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Thanks, Chris. That connection seems undeniable. But what is the
> > motivation
> > > for the quasi-ungrammatical construction there in the title, in the first
> > > place?
> > >
> > > Mark
> > >
> > > On Sun, Sep 25, 2022, 4:27 PM Chris Waigl <chris at lascribe.net> wrote:
> > >
> > > > It's the title of a book - I believe the flyer is likely a direct
> > > reference
> > > > to the book: http://www.beacon.org/We-Keep-Us-Safe-P1556.aspx
> > > >
> > > > On Sun, Sep 25, 2022 at 6:59 AM Mark Mandel <markamandel at gmail.com>
> > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > "WE KEEP US SAFE" is the headline of a sign posted on many light
> > poles
> > > > and
> > > > > other locations in my neighborhood in Philadelphia. It seems to be a
> > > > flawed
> > > > > reflexive, where the object, though semantically identical to the
> > > > subject,
> > > > > is in the simple accusative rather than the reflexive.
> > > > >
> > > > > But I think the writer was seeing a semantic difference: addressing
> > > *each
> > > > > reader* with a call to action to protect *the entire community*: "We
> > > > > [individually] keep us [collectively] safe." I've redacted the name
> > and
> > > > > address.
> > > > >
> > > > > ---------
> > > > > NOTICE OF CEASE & DESIST AGAINST
> > > > > **************
> > > > > LANDLORD AT ***************
> > > > >
> > > > > 1. HE HAS NO RENTAL LICENSE
> > > > > 2. HE HAS BEEN OPENLY HARASSING, ABUSING, AND TAMPERING WITH THE
> > > > UTILITIES
> > > > > OF HIS TENANTS
> > > > > 3. HE IS KNOWN TO ASSAULT NEIGHBORS AND BYSTANDERS ON THE STREET
> > > > >
> > > > > BE AWARE!
> > > > > WE KEEP US SAFE!
> > > > > ---------
> > > > >
> > > > > Opinions?
> > > > >
> > > > > — Mark Mandel
> > > > >
> > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > Chris Waigl . chris.waigl at gmail.com . chris at lascribe.net
> > > > http://eggcorns.lascribe.net . http://chryss.eu
> > > >
> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > > >
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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