Somewhen (was: Disambiguating polysemy)
| From: | Ray Brown <ray.brown@...> |
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| Date: | Tuesday, November 23, 2004, 18:38 |
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I mailed this yesterday - to the list, I thought. But I thought wrongly
:=(
Darn mailers! Why can't all replies go automatically to the list? It's
very frustrating.
On Monday, November 22, 2004, at 04:06 , Cowbert von Moo wrote:
> Hi, I'm new. :-)
Welcome!
> <snip>
>> Don't worry. It has been my experience that someone, somewhere, somewhen
> <snip>
>
> A bit off topic, but wouldn't it be a wonderful layer of sense if
> English (and others) were aligned like that for real:
_somewhen_ is *real*. I was brought up with it in my native Sussex
(England). We were told at school that we should not say that as it was
not standard English. We took no notice because everyone used the word
(and _anywhen_) - of course it was standard!
It was not until I went to university that I discovered that those
teachers were right - most of my fellow countrymen were not familiar with
the word :=(
But I am please to say, it is still alive and well in Sussex :)
> * somewhere
> * somehow
> (so far so good, then...)
> * somewho (instead someone)
> * somewhat (instead of something)
The last did survive in southern dialects, at least, in the UK - tho
normally pronounce 'summat' - with the meaning 'something'. The word still
occurred in colloquial English when I was young, but we were aware that
this was not standard and 'something' was the more common word. It was
obsolescent when I was young and may well be obsolete now.
> * somewhen (instead of sometime)
Still alive and well in my native county.
Ray
===============================================
http://home.freeuk.com/ray.brown
ray.brown@freeuk.com
===============================================
Anything is possible in the fabulous Celtic twilight,
which is not so much a twilight of the gods
as of the reason." [JRRT, "English and Welsh" ]
Ray
===============================================
http://home.freeuk.com/ray.brown
ray.brown@freeuk.com
===============================================
Anything is possible in the fabulous Celtic twilight,
which is not so much a twilight of the gods
as of the reason." [JRRT, "English and Welsh" ]
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