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Re: CHAT: Definite/Indefinite Article Distinction

From:Thomas R. Wier <trwier@...>
Date:Sunday, September 8, 2002, 7:54
Quoting Philip Newton <Philip.Newton@...>:

> On 7 Sep 02, at 20:44, Roberto Suarez Soto wrote: > > > Here, "uno" doesn't mean "one" or "a", but more "oneself". So, "no > > tener uno hombre" could be pedantically translated to "not to have > > oneself a man", or simply "not to have (got?) a man for oneself". In > > fact, you could strip the "uno", and it will make perfect sense. I > > don't even know if "oneself" is correct in english, but you get the > > idea :-) > > It's correct. "One has to look out for oneself", etc. > > (Though there are speakers who use "him" and "himself" for oblique > forms of "one": "One must look out for himself and protect his > interests". I find that sounds weird, but there are many who do this. I > *think* it's more common in Leftpondia.)
I can't recall hearing that much. It's ungrammatical for me; either say "you must look out for yourself and protect your interests" or do as you say above. ========================================================================= Thomas Wier "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally, Dept. of Linguistics because our secret police don't get it right University of Chicago half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of 1010 E. 59th Street Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter. Chicago, IL 60637