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English Has a New Preposition...

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31 messages over 4 pages: 13 4  Next >>
kanewai
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 Message 9 of 31
20 November 2013 at 9:30pm | IP Logged 
geoffw: No you cannot.

Parce que:



But that's still not a preposition, is it? I'll keep working on it. I want us to be the
first! We'll start a new French trend. The Académie will hate us for it.

Edited by kanewai on 20 November 2013 at 9:33pm

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ScottScheule
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 Message 10 of 31
20 November 2013 at 10:44pm | IP Logged 
Hekje wrote:
We use it because it sticks out like a sore thumb and is obviously wrong. Therefore, I don't see this going on the path to legitimacy anytime soon.


On the contrary, I think the sore thumbness is what makes it fun and what'll make it linger on and head towards legitimacy.

I've never heard this spoken, but I do see it frequently online. I often see it used as an insult, particularly to make fun of the quality of one's argument. Something like:

"They say, all biologists and physicists are completely wrong about everything. Why? Because God, that's why."

It indicates that I don't think the arguer is making a very strong argument.

(It's a clear impoverishment of the language.)
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tarvos
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 Message 11 of 31
20 November 2013 at 10:52pm | IP Logged 
Hekje wrote:
I actually do hear this in speech pretty frequently - and use it myself
(context: 21-year-old American in the
Northeast).

However, this use of "because" is really only suitable for joking around between friends.
As nicozerpa said, it's really
just co-opting a meme. We use it because it sticks out like a sore thumb and is obviously
wrong. Therefore, I don't
see this going on the path to legitimacy anytime soon.


I use this when textchatting in slang. Or something. Because, you know, I want to be
ironic and to the point. I leave out the tildes though.
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geoffw
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 Message 12 of 31
20 November 2013 at 11:04pm | IP Logged 
ScottScheule wrote:


"They say, all biologists and physicists are completely wrong about everything. Why?
Because God, that's why."

It indicates that I don't think the arguer is making a very strong argument.



This is actually the main usuage I've seen. The fact that grammar is being mangled
viciously and the expression is so short as to lack even basic function words both are
provided as evidence of the mental deficiency of the one whose argument is being
lampooned. If you don't believe me, you can ask the Google what it can find in its
series of tubes (which are not a dump truck).
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Hekje
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 Message 13 of 31
20 November 2013 at 11:21pm | IP Logged 
ScottScheule wrote:
Hekje wrote:
We use it because it sticks out like a sore thumb and is obviously wrong.
Therefore, I don't see this going on the path to legitimacy anytime soon.


On the contrary, I think the sore thumbness is what makes it fun and what'll make it linger on and head towards
legitimacy.

Of course it's the sore thumbness that makes it fun. Naturally. But fun stuff doesn't always stick.

See: all the internet slang I used as a 13-year-old (e.g., "You got owned!").
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AlexTG
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 Message 14 of 31
21 November 2013 at 4:37am | IP Logged 
I think it'll stick. Answering "because logic" has a different feel and different insinuation to any alternative. And
it's so much more succinct. I just can't see myself abandoning it(I use it in regular speech, but I am admittedly
the sort of awful person who uses internet acronyms in speech...).

Whether it moves into non-ironic usage is the question for me. But that would take a generation or two.

Edited by AlexTG on 21 November 2013 at 4:40am

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sctroyenne
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 Message 15 of 31
21 November 2013 at 6:57am | IP Logged 
It's actually a perfect way to explain Irish language idiosyncrasies ("Why? Because Irish."). It's basically net
speech but it will be interesting to see what (and to what degree) net speech bleeds over into everyday
standard usage once all the "youngins'" who've been growing up with it get older. For now it just seems like
"imma" and other modern slangy language usage.
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Serpent
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 Message 16 of 31
21 November 2013 at 9:16am | IP Logged 
ScottScheule wrote:
(It's a clear impoverishment of the language.)
I hope you're trolling.

I really love this usage. I always thought the structures it replaces sounded clumsy ("because of being", "due to the fact that", "because there had been"). I guess to some extent I see it like that because Russian can omit the verb to be and in general has much fewer of these words that really add nothing to the utterance.

Also, contrary to what you might believe, there are intelligent people on sites like tumblr. And they use it when saying intelligent things. It's just a word.

I'd also say it's a word that's having its appendix removed, as "because of" is totally acceptable.


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