Re: CHAT: the surprise that is at me...

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       Constructed Languages List <CONLANG@...>
> Poster:       Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
> Subject:      Re: CHAT: Re: the surprise that is at me...
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>
> Matt Pearson wrote:
> > Could you give an example?
>
> Like "Were you about to leave whenever I called?", or "remember whenever
> you [followed by a specific incident]?"
>
> > The one that always gets me is when
> > you're waiting in line at the deli or the library or wherever and
> > the person behind the counter says "I can help who's next", or
> > "Can I help who's next?", or "I can help whoever's next".
>
> Hmm, I find the "whoever's next" perfectly natural, but the "who's next"
> annoys me a bit.
>
> > Yesterday at the library I was waited on by a woman who
> > kept saying "I can help who's ever next" (or possibly "I can
> > help whose ever next").  So the "ever" seems to be migrating
> > away from the "who"...
>
> Fascinating!  I've never heard such a usage.  Sounds really odd to me.
I've just delurked a bit, so I'm not sure what this thread's about, but my
grandma has a usage that really irritates me: "that's" as in "The man that's
mother I went to school with," instead of "...whose mother I went to school
with." She seems to use it for both animate and inanimate nouns. I don't
remember ever hearing anyone else use that.


Eric Christopherson / *Aiworegs Ghristobhorosyo suHnus
raccoon@elknet.net