Christophe Grandsire scripsit:
> The closest I can find in English of this phenomenon is the expression "on
> me" in "don't die on me" that I've heard a few times.
That means more like "Don't die and leave me in this situation".
> Of course, it doesn't help
> explaining the French and Basque ethical dative, but I hope my explanation
> above has helped people understand something which seems very foreign to
> English.
Like the familiar/polite 2nd person distinction, it's something we had but
got rid of a few centuries ago.
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