----- Original Message -----
From: "And Rosta" <a.rosta@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2003 10:06 PM
Subject: Re: Country Names -- Local Pronunciations
> Joe:
> > From: "John Cowan" <cowan@...>
> > > Joe Fatula scripsit:
> > >
> > > > Has it not been in use in England's English? Over here in America,
I'd
> > use
> > > > "I guess" as the more default-ish form, with "I suppose" as an
> > alternative
> > > > How is it used in England?
> > >
> > > It used to be regularly denounced throughout the 19th and first half
of
> > > the 20th centuries as a hideous Americanism, despite the copious
evidence
> > > from Chaucer and Shakespeare among many others that it was old and
> > > deep-rooted in the common tongue
> >
> > Old, perhaps, but still an Americanism. I'm pretty sure it was wiped
out
> > from English English by the 19th century
>
> I don't know of any research on the matter, nor of searchable corpora of
> demotic speech from the relevant period. I do know that (a) British
> intuitions about what is an isn't an Americanism are notoriously
unreliable
> and (b) the extent of linguistic variation within Britain has always
> been underestimated and continues to be so.
Ok, lets just say: 'I guess' is not in my native vocabulary, and not in
anyone elses(English) that I know or have heard. ie. I have only ever heard
'I guess' or from Americans. In other words, I'm pretty sure it's an
Americanism.
Oh, and I can just about imagine Standard English inserting 'I guess', but
definitely none of the local dialects.
> --And.
>