Re: Where's the possesive pronoun? [was: Re: Consonants that are not pronounced?]

On Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:12:34 +0100, "Mike Lyle"
<mike_lyle_uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Leslie Danks wrote:
Peter Duncanson (BrE) wrote:

On Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:47:14 +0100, Chuck Riggs <chriggs@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 19:36:30 GMT, the Omrud
<usenet.omrud@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

<snip>

Wife is teaching it this year, possibly for the
first time; she frequently complains because it's so tedious.

<snip>

I've noticed than more than one British AUE member -- in addition to
David, who does it regularly, I believe Laura Spira is another --
frequently forgoes the possessive pronoun, at least inside this
forum. Is this a British custom that should be noted, for it would
be uncommon in AmE, or a personal tic with these AUE members?

I've only ever met this in AUE and AEU. I haven't heard it in
conversation among Brits.

AOL. "The wife" used to be fairly common, though it is probably
deprecated nowadays as a PC-deviant expression.

As an impartial observer, I bear witness that David the O very sensibly
avoids giving personal information here. One of the ways in which he
preserves the privacy of his family is to use some kinship terms as
though they are names: hence, capital initials and no personal pronouns.
Laura does the same, though I fancy less strictly. It isn't a dialectal
thing or a widespread habit: just a useful practice for a special
purpose, and I rather like it.

I like it, too, so perhaps it really is a Brit thing.

I toyed with MOTH ("male of the household") to refer to my own
resident husband, but it didn't quite catch on.

--

Katy Jennison

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