Re: USAGE: I'd rather (was: Re: Journalists)

In the last episode, (On Wednesday 11 Tamuz 5767 13:33:06), Carsten Becker
wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On Wed, 27 Jun 2007 03:17:09 -0700, Sai Emrys <sai@...> wrote:
> >For various reasons, I'd rather that not be public information until
>
>                       ^^^^^^^^^^
>
> >after the conference.
>
> I understand what it means, but I've never come across this construction in
> 9 years of studying English at school, except I think in Shakespeare. Is
> this some colloquialism or archaism (like 'methinks' AIUI)? After all,
> there does not seem to be a verb "to rather" in English.
>
> Yours
> Carsten
I've heard it quite regularly in British English, and certainly use it a lot,
though my idiolect may be overly formal. I'd say it (the phrase) is more
formal than informal. It may be passing into the "jocular and archaic" phase,
as with "methinks".

You're right, though - there's no verb "to rather" in English - at least, you
can't say "he rathered" or "I saw two birds rathering in the yard
yesterday" - such things might be understood (the second as a euphemism,
probably, given its similarity to "rogering"), but certainly not "accepted".

HTH

Jeff
--
"Please understand that there are small
European principalities devoted to debating
Tcl vs. Perl as a tourist attraction."

                            -- Cameron Laird

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