[Lexicog] meaning and usage of "on me"

Kenneth Keyes ken_keyes at SIL.ORG
Sun Oct 19 13:15:46 UTC 2008


Dear All, 
 
Just a quick query. Have you thought about the phrase "on me" when preceded by a verb?  Someone recently asked me about the meaning of "on me". He quoted Harry Truman's statement regarding Gen. Douglas MacArthur's insubordination: "I don't want him to resign on me, I want him fired!" What do you think of the phrase "on me"? Is is a transitivizer? What does it mean? This is different than its usual meaning as preposition as in the famous "lean on me". I think it must mean "without my permission", or "against my will".  
 
Here are some examples I thought of: 
 
Don't leave on me.
Don't quit on me. 
Don't up and marry on me. 
Don't die on me!
 
I hope he doesn't...on me. 
I'm afraid he might...on me. 
 
Can you think of other examples? (Just a hint, using Google wasn't very helpful.)
 
Is there a text corpus where we can specify "any verb [any tense, any person, any number ]" followed by the phrase "on" followed by an accusative/dative personal pronoun? How long can a phrasal verb incorporating "on me" be?
 
I am fascinated by this question. I hope you are too. Many thanks in advance, 
 
Ken
 
 
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