[Lexicog] meaning and usage of "on me"

[Wayne Leman]

FWIW, Kenneth, this usage of "on me" is related to its usages in sentences like:

My car broke down on me.
He gave up on me.

"on me" indicates a negative impact upon someone. It is similar in English to how the Greek dative case can indicate impact of some action on someone.

Wayne Leman

   

  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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