Re: CHAT: "*** you" (was Re: closet conlanging)

Eric Christopherson wrote:

> I've often wondered, what is the story with the phrases "bugger you"
> and the more common American "f*ck you" (If you don't know it, you'll
> have to guess the vowel ;) ). They don't seem grammatically correct as
> commands; then they would have "yourself" rather than "you." Or was
> there originally another word, such as "I" at the beginning? If I
> interpreted your Hatas-oa phrase correctly, it is "I bugger you."
> Anyone have any ideas?
 Actually, not every English dialect has always used a reflexive of the
form [pronoun]+self.   To use an example which ironically is the first
one to come to mind, one of the traditional children's prayers goes like
this:

Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake
I pray the Lord my soul to take.

Very un-PC, would probably never get into any modern book. ;-|

It could, of course, be due to the poetic format, but I have certainly
heard dialects which use reflexives like that.  So, anyways, "f*ck you"
has certainly at one time or another been grammatical.  It's just idiomat=
ic
now, that's all, after the Standard moved in and took over.


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Tom Wier <twier@...>
ICQ#: 4315704   AIM: Deuterotom
Website: <http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/>
"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."

"S=F4=F0 is gecy=FEed / =FE=E6t mihtig God manna
cynes / w=EAold w=EEde-ferh=F0."
 _Beowulf_, ll. 700-702
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