Should be 'I wouldn't worry me head (etc)' Not too mention 'it wasa',
interesting usage that, not too mention, because we always do when .....
Plagued by typos (anybody know a good optician, these bi-focals I have are a
positive sanity threat)
Dave
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Bircumshaw" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2006 6:02 PM
Subject: Re: Poem for Colin
> Ah, it wasa because I first posted the poem on the communal noticeboard at
> the flats where I live (Colin is a fellow inmate) and somebody asked me
> about the grammar (not that De Montfort House is some kind of strange
haven
> of literary pedantry, this morning we bought a rowing machine for Vicky:
it
> was advertised on the board as a 'raw in' machine).
> Anyhow, if I were you (grin, a still current common usage) I wouldn't me
> head too much about it.
>
> Best
>
> Dave
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "MJ Walker" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2006 5:21 PM
> Subject: Re: Poem for Colin
>
>
> > I might have known once what that word means - could you possibly
> > explain it, if it were possible, of course, I'd never insist that one do
> > so...
> > Interesting, Dave, that you explicitly pointed out the "ungrammatical"
> > omission of the subjunctive: as a long-time expat (which means exiled
> > from Patrick, of course, never to see that gleaming zimmerframe hurtle
> > towards me in a silver blur) I was convinced that it had even become
> > standard to write "if I was" etc, as I see it online in the press all
> > the time. From my infrequent visits to Britain I know that "if I were"
> > etc is a thing of the past, even among academics.
> > cheers
> > mjay
> >
> > David Bircumshaw wrote:
> >
> > >Golly, Patrick, you mean subjunctivitis? Awful, isn't it?
> > >
> > >Best
> > >
> > >Dave
> > >
> > >
> > >----- Original Message -----
> > >From: "Patrick Mc Manus" <[log in to unmask]>
> > >To: <[log in to unmask]>
> > >Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2006 4:51 PM
> > >Subject: Re: Poem for Colin
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >>I had a subjunctive once davey-very nasty too!!
> > >>P
> > >>
> > >>-----Original Message-----
> > >>From: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to poetry and
> > >>poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David
Bircumshaw
> > >>Sent: 09 May 2006 12:37
> > >>To: [log in to unmask]
> > >>Subject: Poem for Colin
> > >>
> > >>My mate Colin just had a holiday from hell in exotic Lincolnshire,
I'll
> > >>spare you all the nitty details but below is a very short verse
summary
> > >>(there was worse for him when he came back but I've excluded that)
Here
> > >>goes:
> > >>
> > >> A Postcard from Skegness
> > >>
> > >>Got bored stiff. Then came the diarrhoea.
> > >>Can't sleep. Wish it was you that was here.
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>(the grammatically incorrect absence of the subjunctive in the final
> > >>sentence is deliberate as it's a-written in the colloquial)
> > >>
> > >>Dave
> > >>
> > >>
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> > --
> >
> > The self that shines in the greying sunshine
> > of the immediate is actual, though it is
> > not all that is there. - Douglas Oliver
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