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Bloke
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 11:20 am
Post subject: "Well, I don't" in Tombstone |
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In the film Tombstone, about Wyatt Earp et al, a man asks Doc Holliday
why he is so loyal to Earp, and Holliday replies that Earp is his
friend.
"Heck", says the man, "I got loadsa friends" and Doc says, "Well, I
don't."
Should he have said something different? Perhaps: "I haven't"? Or does
the exchange sound odd simply because the man says "..got loadsa"
rather than " ..have many"?
Bloke
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raymond o'hara
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 3:35 pm
Post subject: Re: "Well, I don't" in Tombstone |
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"Bloke" <mc_wanker@excite.com> wrote in message
news:skjnl0po0ol11at504dj9heneje9mbcii2@4ax.com...
| Quote: | In the film Tombstone, about Wyatt Earp et al, a man asks Doc Holliday
why he is so loyal to Earp, and Holliday replies that Earp is his
friend.
"Heck", says the man, "I got loadsa friends" and Doc says, "Well, I
don't."
Should he have said something different? Perhaps: "I haven't"? Or does
the exchange sound odd simply because the man says "..got loadsa"
rather than " ..have many"?
Bloke
|
The exchange sounds fine to me, they are cowboys and not in an eastern
deawing room. Doc Holliday was better educated than your usual cowboy being
a dentist but he would have talked the talk. |
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Pat Durkin
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 9:05 pm
Post subject: Re: "Well, I don't" in Tombstone |
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"Bloke" <mc_wanker@excite.com> wrote in message
news:skjnl0po0ol11at504dj9heneje9mbcii2@4ax.com...
| Quote: | In the film Tombstone, about Wyatt Earp et al, a man asks Doc Holliday
why he is so loyal to Earp, and Holliday replies that Earp is his
friend.
"Heck", says the man, "I got loadsa friends" and Doc says, "Well, I
don't."
Should he have said something different? Perhaps: "I haven't"? Or does
the exchange sound odd simply because the man says "..got loadsa"
rather than " ..have many"?
|
I agree with raymond's reply.
In more formal conversation, some kind of parallelism (re-use of the verb)
would be correct. That would assume that the initial comment is formal. It
is not. It qualifies as "street talk" of that era (as seen through modern
eyes). However, we don't have any parallel reply to " I got ", meaning "I
have".
Thus, street talk today has built in a negative reply to "I got (often
spoken as 'I gots, you gots')". That reply is "I don't got (gots) *loadsa*
friends, money, time, etc."
Still, even if the conversation is brought up to today's street talk, I
can't hear Doc Holliday saying "I don't got." He stops with the simple "I
don't."
I think that either here or in AUE there have been further discussions of
the way the informal US style of negative reply does _not_ require either a
complete sentence or a parallel verb structure. So, "I don't" will be heard
in that and other situations, instead of "I haven't."
**I have used the term "street talk" for lack of a better term. I hear this
usage on television talk shows in which many young people, black, white and
latino, appear in very informal conversations. I avoid "ghetto talk"
because it would tend to imply urban black styles of speech.
*loadsa*=loads of (of course) Did you copy this from the written script or
are you transcribing it? Just as with "I don't", more formal speech would
have the whole words written or spoken out.
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Bloke
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 10:45 pm
Post subject: Re: "Well, I don't" in Tombstone |
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On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 15:05:10 GMT, "Pat Durkin" <durkinpa@peoplepc.com>
wrote:
| Quote: |
"Bloke" <mc_wanker@excite.com> wrote in message
news:skjnl0po0ol11at504dj9heneje9mbcii2@4ax.com...
In the film Tombstone, about Wyatt Earp et al, a man asks Doc Holliday
why he is so loyal to Earp, and Holliday replies that Earp is his
friend.
"Heck", says the man, "I got loadsa friends" and Doc says, "Well, I
don't."
Should he have said something different? Perhaps: "I haven't"? Or does
the exchange sound odd simply because the man says "..got loadsa"
rather than " ..have many"?
I agree with raymond's reply.
In more formal conversation, some kind of parallelism (re-use of the verb)
would be correct. That would assume that the initial comment is formal. It
is not. It qualifies as "street talk" of that era (as seen through modern
eyes). However, we don't have any parallel reply to " I got ", meaning "I
have".
Thus, street talk today has built in a negative reply to "I got (often
spoken as 'I gots, you gots')". That reply is "I don't got (gots) *loadsa*
friends, money, time, etc."
Still, even if the conversation is brought up to today's street talk, I
can't hear Doc Holliday saying "I don't got." He stops with the simple "I
don't."
I think that either here or in AUE there have been further discussions of
the way the informal US style of negative reply does _not_ require either a
complete sentence or a parallel verb structure. So, "I don't" will be heard
in that and other situations, instead of "I haven't."
**I have used the term "street talk" for lack of a better term. I hear this
usage on television talk shows in which many young people, black, white and
latino, appear in very informal conversations. I avoid "ghetto talk"
because it would tend to imply urban black styles of speech.
*loadsa*=loads of (of course) Did you copy this from the written script or
are you transcribing it? Just as with "I don't", more formal speech would
have the whole words written or spoken out.
|
Sorry, I quoted from memory and it's a few years since I saw the film.
(Mind, it hardly ranks alongside "Is this a knife I see before me..."
etc. as a feat of recall.)
I hope it doesn't sound ironic to say I'm delighted with your reply;
it's great to know that our living language is being so closely
monitored by people who care about as you obviously do.
Bloke |
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cljlk
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 4:12 pm
Post subject: Re: "Well, I don't" in Tombstone |
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"raymond o'hara" <reoh@comcast.net> wrote in message news:<crQ6d.392912$8_6.256534@attbi_s04>...
| Quote: | "Bloke" <mc_wanker@excite.com> wrote in message
news:skjnl0po0ol11at504dj9heneje9mbcii2@4ax.com...
In the film Tombstone, about Wyatt Earp et al, a man asks Doc Holliday
why he is so loyal to Earp, and Holliday replies that Earp is his
friend.
"Heck", says the man, "I got loadsa friends" and Doc says, "Well, I
don't."
Should he have said something different? Perhaps: "I haven't"? Or does
the exchange sound odd simply because the man says "..got loadsa"
rather than " ..have many"?
Bloke
The exchange sounds fine to me, they are cowboys and not in an eastern
|
Should we use "find with me" instead of "fine to me"? Since I usually use
"fine with me". Would anyone please give me some input.
Back to the subject, I would use "Well, I don't" it means "I don't have a
lot of friends". It just my opinion only.
| Quote: | deawing room. Doc Holliday was better educated than your usual cowboy being
a dentist but he would have talked the talk. |
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