Re: USAGE: Internetese deviancy - the definite article

On Mon, 26 Jul 2004 12:02:30 +0200, Andreas Johansson <andjo@...>
wrote:
> In some variants of online slang, incl that of a forum I'm frequenting,
> it's become customary to supply a definite article (typically spelt
> |teh|)in some context where it would not normally be expected in
> English; beforea personal name, and before a predicate adjective.
>
> So, frex, "Johnny is stupid" becomes "Teh Johnny is teh stupid". Fairly
> redundant, really.
I noticed this recently too, on a trip to Philadelphia.  The word "teh"
(/tE(h)/ stressed, /t@/ unstressed--yes, it has passed into speech) has
four or five functions:

    1) as a jocular variant of "the"
    2) used before proper names
    3) creates nouns (with a sense of superlative) from adjectives
    4) creates superlatives from adjectives ("teh hawt")
    5) add a superlative, sometimes adjectival sense to nouns as well ("teh
sex")

"The" can already produce nouns from adjectives ("Blessed are _the meek_")
but with "the" it's necessarily plural and collective, while with "teh" it
can be singular. ("He is teh stupid" = "he is a (particularly) stupid
person").

I wouldn't consider it strictly a predicate adjective because I'm pretty
sure <teh> + [adjective] constructions can function as the object of a
transitive verb, even if <teh> + [adjective] is less likely to appear as
subject.


	*Muke!
--
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