Re: They be hard times!

"the Omrud" <usenet.omrud@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:MPG.20789c2e398aeeac9896aa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

["They be hard times!"]

It's not the subjunctive - it's dialect for "These are hard times".

Exactly. There must be something about hard times that mangles people's
verbs - another variant often heard in the UK (in mock-archaic speech) is
"times is hard".

Regards

Jonathan


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Relevant Pages

  • Re: They be hard times!
    ... There must be something about hard times that mangles people's verbs - another variant often heard in the UK (in mock-archaic speech) is "times is hard". ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: They be hard times!
    ... There must be something about hard times that mangles people's ... verbs - another variant often heard in the UK (in mock-archaic speech) is ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: They be hard times!
    ... There must be something about hard times that mangles people's ... verbs - another variant often heard in the UK is ...
    (alt.usage.english)