Re: Adpositions gaining new uses

I would think "I want out" normally occurs during situations where the
speaker is in intense disagreement with the methods of his group and
declares he's quitting.
Eugene

On Mon, Nov 17, 2008 at 8:59 PM, Gary Shannon <fiziwig@...> wrote:

> --- On Mon, 11/17/08, Eugene Oh <un.doing@...> wrote:
>
> > >
> > > I find that a perfectly acceptable English sentence,
> > along with the common
> > > "I want out".
> ...
> >
> > But "I want out" omits "to be", which
> > generally is a more common and more
> > accepted omission than other verbs because of its duh-ness.
>
> Off hand, I can't think of any English sentence which omits "to be". Are
> there any instances you can think of? In fact, omitting "to be" makes an
> English sentence sound "foreign"; either a strong hint of an Eastern
> European accent, or an obvious parody of a Native American speaker from a
> bad wild west movie. "Me brave chief."
>
> Also, it can be argued that to "BE" out one must, at some point "GO" out,
> so I think the case for the omitted verb being "to go" seems strong. Also
> the most frequent context in which I have heard the phrase is where the dog
> is at the door whining and the master says "You want out boy?"
>
> --gary
>

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