[lit-ideas] English as she is spoke
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 12:15:52 EDT
In a message dated 8/30/2004 3:25:44 PM Eastern Standard Time,
atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
The roadside sign to the farm advertised her produce's
> versatility. - "Rabbits: Pets - or Food".
I did see 'Roger and Me'. And I noticed the 'OR' in the lovely lady's sign.
'OR', as JL will be MORE than happy to tell you, is not an exclusive 'or' in
English unless specified, or unless the 'or' is a disjunctive conjunction of
opposites such as "life or death" (see JL's brilliant monograph "Polar
Opposites Or English As She's Spoken In Krakow", available through the Yale
University Blog Library).
-----
Matter of fact, the correct quotation is:
English as she is spoke
-- not 'she's spoken' --- it's an allusion to
José da Fonseca and Pedro Carolino, fl. 1855, "Idiotisms and Proverbs" --
published in England by James Millington as _English as she is spoke: or a
Jest in sober earnest_ (1883).
Cheers,
JL
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