Re: Cases, again

En réponse à Philippe Caquant :


>True, there is an irreverencious expression for an old
>and ill-looking person: PPH (Passera Pas l'Hiver =
>Won't Survive Next Winter). By now it could be clever
>to change it into PPE (Passera pas l'Ete), since
>15.000 didn't survive the last, very hot summer.
Eh... how old are you, and when is the last time you heard people less than 
60 years old talk? Because the expression "PPH" has disappeared from the 
Spoken French lexicon more than 2 generations ago. I myself know it only 
from an article about linguistic diachrony and lexical changes in French, 
as an example of how terms can fall into disuse. My parents never used nor 
ever heard the term (which means that their parents didn't use it either, 
so you can nearly say the expression disappeared more than 3 generations 
ago), and I'm pretty sure most people I know never heard it either (and I 
know French people of all ages). My educated guess is that if you ever use 
this expression, 95% of the people you'd be with wouldn't understand you, 
and the 5% that would would find it rather outdated.

This whole comment comes from your "there *is* an irreverencious 
expression...". Say "there *was*..." and I'll agree. But PPH is certainly 
not part of the French language anymore than the object case on nouns is.

Christophe Grandsire.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

You need a straight mind to invent a twisted conlang. 

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