[Ads-l] Self-deprecating Gen-Z "Not me..."

[Dan Goncharoff]

I am waiting for the first sighting of "Literally not me X" accompanied by
a photo or video of the author X.

On Sun, Apr 30, 2023, 8:33 PM Mark Mandel <markamandel at gmail.com> wrote:

> «The student is looking at examples he’s observed with gerunds, as in “Not
> me being lazy”, and I see TikTok illustrations of “Not me being goofy”.»
>
> Those aren't gerunds, they're straightforward present participles. A gerund
> use would be something like "*Being* lazy is not my style."
>
> https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gerund :
> any of several linguistic forms analogous to the Latin gerund in languages
> other than Latin
> especially *: *the English verbal noun
> <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/verbal%20noun> ending in
> *-ing*
> that has the function of a substantive
> <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/substantive#h2> and at the
> same
> time shows the verbal features of tense, voice, and capacity to take
> adverbial qualifiers and to govern (see govern sense 4
> <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/govern>) objects
>
> https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=gerund [American Heritage
> dict.]:
>    In other languages [than Latin], a verbal noun analogous to the Latin
> gerund, such as the English form ending in *-ing* when used as a noun, as
> in *singing* in *We admired the choir's singing.*
>
> Mark Mandel
>
> On Sun, Apr 30, 2023, 3:53 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > A student here is investigating the apparently Gen Z construction “Not
> me”
> > + gerund.  I see from googling sites like
> > https://stayhipp.com/glossary/what-does-not-me-mean-on-social-media/ <
> > https://stayhipp.com/glossary/what-does-not-me-mean-on-social-media/>
> > that “not me” is a meme on its own, without the following gerund, with
> the
> > attribution to “Gen-Z” and the observation that it is "used by an
> > individual to poke fun at their own embarrassing, toxic, or self-absorbed
> > behavior”
> >
> > The student is looking at examples he’s observed with gerunds, as in “Not
> > me being lazy”, and I see TikTok illustrations of “Not me being goofy”.
> > Apparently “not y’all” exists too.  Is there any literature on this, or
> > speculation on its origin?
> >
> > LH
> >
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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