LL-L "Grammar" 2007.09.06 (02) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L  -  06 September 2007 - Volume 02
Song Contest: lowlands-l.net/contest/ (- 31 Dec. 2007)
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From: Sandy Fleming <sandy at scotstext.org>
Subject: LL-L "Grammar" 2007.09.05 (01) [E]

> From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Grammar
>
> Hello, (silent) Lowlanders!
>
> On the way to work this morning I was struck by the sight of a sign
> saying "Stair" pointing to a set of ten or more stairways down a hill
> side.  Many Americans say "stair" for what others call "stairway,"
> "set of stairs" or just "stairs."  I think the ambiguity arises from

In Scots a staircase is referred to as the "stair", eg "up the stair",
"doun the stair" for upstairs and downstairs, it's long-established
usage. I don't know whether that would influence American idiom or not.

Sandy Fleming
http://sandyfleming.org/

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Grammar

Thanks, Sandy.

Personally I have a hunch that Scots influences via Scottish English
influences (as well as Northumbrian influences) have been largely overlooked
in the study of the development of non-European English varieties.  Perhaps
our own Michael Montgomery (lowlands-l.net/anniversary/michael.php) could
share his take on this sometime, since this topic is roughly up his stair.

"Pidgeons from Hell" (The Black Stranger and Other American Tales by Robert
Ervin Howard):

But he came down the stair!

>From Brooklyn Online: "How to Play Three Card Monte and Win: The Story of a
Subway Con Job":

Out of boredom, I walked to the end of the station to see if I could see down
the stairs at the relic of a previous generation.
I couldn't see anything down the stair, but I noticed 10-15 large garbage
bags laid out on the platform behind the fence.

>From Malvina Reynolds, *Little Boxes and Other Handmade Songs*: "Billy Boy"
("In May, 1960, the House UnAmerican Committee came to San Francisco and
subpoenaed, amongst others, a university student."):

Did they wash you down the stair, Billy Boy, Billy Boy,
Did they wash you down the stair, charming Billy?
Yes, they washed me down the stair
And they rearranged my hair
With a club in the City Hall rotunda.

Here a well-known ditty:

As I was going up the stair
I met a man who wasn't there
He wasn't there again today
Oh God, I wish he'd go away.

>From Robert Burns' "Charlie He's My Darling":

Sae light's he jimped up the stair,
And tirl'd at the pin;
And wha sae ready as hersel'
To let the laddie in!

>From "Fennario" ("The Bonnie Lass o' Fyvie"):

Come skippin' down the stair, pretty Peggy-o.
Come skippin' down the stair, pretty Peggy-o.
Come skippin' ddown the stair combin' back your yellow hair,
And bid farewell to sweet William-o.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

•

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