[lit-ideas] Re: The Split Implicature
- From: "Donal McEvoy" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "donalmcevoyuk" for DMARC)
- To: "lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 21 Oct 2017 21:31:16 +0000 (UTC)
But Bill Nighy made a lovely Welshman>
Damning indictment. Couldn't they have found an actual Welshman to be lovely?
DL
From: david ritchie <profdritchie@xxxxxxxxx>
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Saturday, 21 October 2017, 19:34
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: The Split Implicature
On Sat, Oct 21, 2017 at 1:04 PM, Donal McEvoy <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
>I think, however, by "English middleclass person" you mean the parents of the
fictional character “Bromley” in the film “Pride,” the sort of people who
caused me to think that a trip across the Atlantic and possibly tarrying awhile
might be a fine idea.
Did I mention that “Pride” is a very fine fillum?>
I'll start at the end. I saw "Pride" only this year (Irish* for "for the first
time this year", but also Irish* for "saw it recently"; so I'll add "for the
first time this year"). It was very fine.
The girl I have in mind was as Scottish as Scots can be. We twa nations
evidently have fillums in common.
However, I am not sure we can blame grammar for the grammatical dark side - for
example, grammatical point-scoring is generally practiced by people who are
minded to find some basis for point-scoring anyway. In fact, in whom 'games of
one-upmanship' seem pathologically embedded. I didn't go to an English private
school but I expect these things were embedded there: as my ma says "They don't
lick it up off the grass.”
Americans are not immune. When I wrote in a recent “Hereabouts” that I
“diverted to the garden section," a reader—the pieces aren’t confined to
lit-ideas-- pointed out that diverted isn’t a reflexive verb. “One cannot
divert oneself to or from any place.” I asked when was the last time he’d
heard, “There’s fog in Frankfurt, we’ll have to* be diverted to* Bonn.” Pilots
divert themselves.
Cue jokes from “Airplane."
Inside our house “tennis” is a reflexive verb, “I’m off to tennis myself.”
That’s because I like to make fun of French usage. My wife, by contrast,
"jumps in the shower." I suggest she should be careful.
But don't start me on the Welsh. I mean I had written up a piece of research
for potential publication** once and showed it to this Welsh barrister...
But Bill Nighy made a lovely Welshman and the English have a wonderful poetry
of place names to be going on with. More than momentarily.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/uk/great-exodus-many-people-moving-cities-going/
I’m currently working my way through “Writing Home.” Alan Bennet begins with
a lovely tale of his Mam meeting T.S. Eliot. The point of the tale is that
Alan has two different voices, “speaking properly” and “being yourself.” Not
my problem, guv; I’ve got multiple voices and grammars banging around my head,
none of which is quintessentially me.
Chickens have this problem too.
David Ritchie,in dreichPortland, Oregon
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