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Re: CHAT: Linux etc. was(Re: Zelandish (was: 2nd pers. pron. forGod))

From:Nik Taylor <yonjuuni@...>
Date:Tuesday, September 24, 2002, 5:31
Roberto Suarez Soto wrote:
> Times are a'changing, they say :-) BTW (and to save the > offtopic), that "a+<verb in gerund>" thing that I've seen many times in > english is something that I don't understand :-m Where does it come > from?
It's the original form of the progressive. It's derived from the Old English form which used the preposition "on" between the inflected form of "to be" and the participle, so something like "Ic eom on singing", lit. "I am on singing", later it slurred to a- and then eventually vanished. -- "There's no such thing as 'cool'. Everyone's just a big dork or nerd, you just have to find people who are dorky the same way you are." - overheard ICQ: 18656696 AIM Screen-Name: NikTaylor42