I’m not trying to get out of writing a post, really I’m not, but I found another post on someone else’s blog that I want to share with you.
(Side comment from Billy Ray Barnwell: My mother always said “someone’s else” instead of “someone else’s” but her favorite teacher was her high school English teacher who was an English teacher in both senses of the word, by which I mean that she not only taught English but also came from England, the teacher I mean, not my mother, and I have always wondered if “someone’s else” was how people say it in England, or maybe how they used to say it in England in the olden days even if they might not say it that way any more, and so I would like to ask rhymeswithplague’s readers who live in England -- Yorkshire Pudding and Penny and Ian and Daphne -- for their two cents’ worth on the subject or two pence worth or whatever their local expression is, my mother also said the words dictionary and stationery and strawberry in the English fashion even though she was from Philadelphia which means that when she said them they came out as diction’ry and station’ry and strawb’ry which not only do I find charming but also pronounce that way myself because I learned to talk at my mother’s knee just the way she apparently learned to talk by listening to her favorite high school English teacher, or perhaps both my mother and her teacher were just plain wrong, I do not say “someone’s else” although I may change that if RWP’s English friends so indicate, my goodness, I seem to be starting to digress a little, and since that is never a good thing, this is Billy Ray Barnwell signing off for now.)
Whew. I’m glad that’s out of the way.
Anyway, the someone else in this case is Ruth Hull Chatlien who lives in Northern Illinois and earns her income by being a freelance writer in the field of education, and the post I wanted to share with you is here:
(The post I wanted to share with you)
It is food for thought and, in my case, very timely.
I left the following comment:
“Thank you, Ruth, for this wonderful and much-too-distressingly-accurate post, and by “post” I mean “look at myself” (I’m like Humpty Dumpty in Lewis Carroll’s book; when I use a word it means whatever I want it to mean).
“Just when I think I may have devised a plan for solvency, along comes a post like yours to set me straight. Praise God.”
That was a great post you shared with us. My latest post isn't about manna, but about the other staple that God provided for the Children of Israel; water.
ReplyDeleteAn Arkies Musings
THAT BLOG KINKD OF WNADERED AROUND UNTIL IT CMAE AROUND DIN'T IT??????
ReplyDeleteI read Ruth's wonderful post. I have copied and paste my response -
ReplyDelete"Through a series of events over the years we too have learned this lesson and it has been so incredibly freeing! Knowing (not just believing, but KNOWING) God will provide leaves us feeling light and happy - JOYFUL! And content. It's amazing all the blessings of really letting go and trusting Him."
English cannot be blamed for 'someone's else', as far as a South coast dweller like myself can say. There are so many dialects in UK, I'd not like to say this holds good for everyone, though. I hate to totally disillusion you... but I also say strawberry, dictionary and stationery, with only an occasional lapse to the shortened version, when the mood takes me!
ReplyDeleteRichie, I like your post, too!
ReplyDeletePutz (David), I am half-Jewish, after all, so maybe it sort of half-wandered.
Rosezilla (Tracie), I knew I was doing the right thing in linking to her post.
jinksy (Penny), I'm surprised! I think my mother's rationale was that the possessive belongs on the pronoun (someone's house, someone's car, someone's dog, someone's else) but I have never ever heard another person say it.
Thank you for the "link love," Bob. I'm glad to know it had meaning for you.
ReplyDeleteNever heard the term "someone's else." I think it's kind of cute.
Over here in Merry Olde England - we definitely say - "someone else's". That woman who taught your ma must have been a reject teacher - not fit to teach in England so had to be exiled to The New World where we send so many of our cast-offs such as David Niven, Ringo Starr, Tracy Ullman and Thomas Paine.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ruth, for your comment, and as for yours, YP, we are a nation of cast-offs (see my July 4th post).
ReplyDeleteWhen I grew up I became, among other things, a technical writer and editor. In that capacity, I would have suggested that Mama recast her thought, say the same thing in a different way. "Some other person's" might be better.