Re: Different Syntax in Idioms

> This is not *significantly* different syntax, however, since many
> prepositions could be postpositions in older German.  E.g. 'wegen' is
> still frequently used as a postposition, making the sentence appear
> slightly more formal, even in non-idiomatic expressions.
> However, 'nach' cannot generally be used as a postposition, I think.
> This seems to only be possible in idioms.
Thanks for your info.  I think you're correct that the first
examples with 'nach' aren't as good, but not because of the
syntax, but because they are still semantically compositional,
and thus less clearly idiomatic in the sense normally used.
Your other examples are good, though.  What matters is their
synchronic analysis;  the fact that they may have been grammatical
500 years ago is not germaine here.

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Thomas Wier	       "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics    because our secret police don't get it right
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