Re: Powers that be were Re: Newbie says hi

--- Tristan <kesuari@...> wrote:

> Well... the subjunctive isn't completely dead or
> anything, is it?
Not so far as I know; but then it's hard to tell when
the two are nearly identical!

> From
> my reading, I understand the Americans use it a lot
> more than the Brits
> do (for whom it's essentially dead).
Indeed, I understand this to be the case (if I were
you v. if I was you style of thing).


> Quhile?
I do that every now and then, writing something
foreign. Usually it ends up an anomolous Spanish or
French word (or even construction); this time it ended
up Scots. I left it in to see if anyone is awake out
there. Aparently, you are awake!

> >The KJV _certainly_ counts as a use of formal
> language; and as
> >John pointed out, "are are" looks bad together.
> >It looks to me like the bible translator was simply
> >
> >avoiding the "are are" conjunction.
> >
> And it was just luck that made it 'the powers that
> be are' rather than
> 'the powers that are be'?
Were I the writer, I'd have said "And these Powers be
ordained of God" or similar. I've been known to use
the indicative "be" at times (though not in papers for
school or anything).

> John says:
>
> >Because the original context (Romans 13:1) says
> "the powers that be
> >are ordained of God", and "the powers that are are
> ordained of God"
> >would sound really stoopit.
> >
> On the word 'stoopit', I guess that's an American
> way of making 'stupid'
> stupid, because they can't just do 'stoopid' because
> that's the normal
> pronunciation?
Actually, I've usually seen it as "stoopid". "Stupid"
is largely the normal pronunciation; "stoopid", apart
from being the New York (City) variety, is an accented
form elsewhere. I'm not quite sure what "stoopit" is.

> Tristan.
Padraic.



=====
il dunar-li c' argeont ayn politig;
     celist il pozponer le mbutheor ayn backun gras.

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