USAGE: that's (was: RE: CHAT: Re: the surprise that is at me...)

Eric:
> 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.
That is normal in Britain. Not universal, but widespread. Not acceptable in
formal standard English, but nonetheless found in informal bourgeois lects.

Actually, I once did an informant survey of these, and found a difference
in the acceptability of

  the man that's mother I went to school with

versus

  the man that's mother went to school with me

but I can't recall which one was the more likely to be accetpable.

--And.