Re: "I'm after ..." (Re: Maybe Spam? "Sorunsuz Yathamanýn Kefyi .. .")

Mark J. Reed wrote:

> On Mon, Sep 27, 2004 at 07:39:20PM +0100, Keith Gaughan wrote:
>
>>I'm after getting it
>
> I know this came up before, but I don't recall - is that an English
> dialectism or a translated non-Englishism?  (In my 'lect, "I'm after X"
> can only mean "I'm out to get X", "I want X", not "I've just gotten X")
You know, you just don't notice your own dialectism when you're typing.

Be assured, I'm quite fluent in English and have spoken it since I was a
wee child. If you pay really good attention to what I write, you'll
probably notice that I've a tendancy to slip back into Sligo
Hiberno-English, so I do.

What you picked out is a pretty salient example of the dialect. The
adverb 'after' is used to modify the sentence to a near-past perfect
tense when used with the present continuous. It does other effects when
used in with the future, e.g. 'you'd/'ll be after a drink, won't you?',
meaning 'Do you want a drink?'. I think this crops up in some british
dialects, but I'm not sure which.

The meaning comes from the use of the phrase 'tar eis' (these days
written by some as 'tareis', but that looks terrible and Irish is rarely
their first language when they do), meaning... no, guess! Yup, 'after'.
The Hiberno-English usage is identical to the one in Gaelic, all forms.

The meaning you mentioned would be understood, but we wouldn't use it
here.

K.

P.S. You mission, if you choose to accept it, is to pick out some other
      dialectisms in the above text.

--
Keith Gaughan -- talideon.com
The man who removes a mountain begins
by carrying away small stones...
                          ...to make place for some really big nukes!

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