RE: Gremlins and Engestrom

From: Phil Graham (phil.graham@mailbox.uq.edu.au)
Date: Wed Mar 28 2001 - 22:09:35 PST


At 05:37 PM 28/03/2001 -0800, Paul Dillon wrote:
>I'm not sure just how this would work but
>maybe it would be useful to have something like a YOU that when spoken to a
>collective indicated something like, "all of you out there who share my
>surname, lineage crest, philosophical orientation, religion, etc."

I thought that a form for this had developed in the US: "Y'all", usually
followed by (in Hallidayan terms) a mental process. In Australia, the form
is "Youse", similarly followed, although the meanings of both (as always)
clearly change with context and function.

It's often entertaining to see US visitors to Australia struggling with the
massive gap between our countries' languages (I don't notice it so much in
the UK). When I was in Kansas last year, the person who delivered pizza to
my hotel room remarked to a friend: "That guy sure is havin' trouble
acquirin' the language".

It seems there was a kerfuffle over my asking for "capsicum" on a pizza.

On an earlier trip to the US, I was asked in all seriousness "what language
do you guys speak down there?".

Regards,
Phil



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