Re: Dangling prepositions and phrasal verbs.

At the moment, I can't see any possibility for using
"entrer dans" without something following it. True,
you can say "entrer dedans", in that case, "dedans"
refers to something already defined before. Anyway,
"entrer dans" or "entrer dedans" are in fact
pleonastic, because (unlike in English), it you enter,
you have to enter "into". So we have "entrer dans"
(entrer dans une chambre) and "entrer en" (entrer en
religion), but it is impossible to "entrer quelque
chose" (1). You can say simply "entrer", in that case,
the complement is implicit, like when you say "Entrez
!" (Come in !) (What is fascinating in German is that
in that case, its is the verb itself that is implicit:
"Herein !")

There is a colloquial expression: "Je vais lui rentrer
dedans", meaning, I'm going to act rather brutally
against somebody.

I noticed another interesting case, also colloquial:
"se pisser [chier] parmi", meaning, to piss [shit] in
one's pants. Normally "parmi" means "among", and has
to be followed by a noun group or a pronoun: "Je vais
passer parmi vous" (especially used by people begging
in the metro); "il faut choisir parmi ces
possibilités" (we have to choose among these
possibilities), etc. This expression might be rather
regional: I think Frederic Dard uses it in his novels,
and he was from Lyons area.

We also use to make fun about people saying "je suis
monté en haut" or "je suis descendu en bas", because
these are typical pleonasms. It would mean "I went up
up" or "I went down down". Yet you can hardly find
someboy claiming that he never said so at last once in
his life. We just try to refrain ourselves from saying
so, in order not to be mocked. This is a very
interesting case of linguistic frustration, or
auto-censuring.

(1) There might be possibilities for "entrer" not
followed by "dans / en", but these are special uses.
For example a computer program might ask you: "Entrez
un nombre: " (Please type a number). This might be
derived from English keyname "Enter".

--- Stephen Mulraney <ataltanie@...> wrote:
> >
> >
>
> What about "entrer dans"? Can you think of a heard
> utterance (kosher or
> not) that uses the "dans" of "entrer dans" without a
> following noun phrase?
>
>

=====
Philippe Caquant

"High thoughts must have high language." (Aristophanes, Frogs)


	
		
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