Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2020 July 18
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July 18
editHi! ^_^ I am further developing my English
editHi! ^_^ , step by step I am working on my English, and I have a question I have seen in many places. I read the murderer of great John Lennon, whom though having his own article, I decline to name, is up for parole in August. Well, due to that, I listened to Beatles and Lennon songs and in one of his songs I see a recurring mistake, for example, "Imagine there's no countries", since countries is in plural shouldn't it be "Imagine there're no countries"?. The same happens with the recurring "You guys", even when there's a woman in the group. Why? Thank you and I cherish you all very much! ^_^ Pardon if I extended myself much, but I like to give context to my questions. :-) --CoryGlee (talk) 20:12, 18 July 2020 (UTC)
- Pop songs are really not the place to look for good grammar; this page gives numerous other examples.
- The Grammar of Rock: Art and Artlessness in 20th Century Pop Lyrics is a whole book devoted to the issue. Alansplodge (talk) 20:37, 18 July 2020 (UTC)
- On your point about "there're" instead of "there's", see this article which notes that "there're" is not usual outside of a few dialects. Alansplodge (talk) 20:41, 18 July 2020 (UTC)
- That's one anonymous person's opinion, with which I decline to concur. -- Jack of Oz [pleasantries] 05:34, 19 July 2020 (UTC)
- On your point about "there're" instead of "there's", see this article which notes that "there're" is not usual outside of a few dialects. Alansplodge (talk) 20:41, 18 July 2020 (UTC)
- Poetic license. "I can't get no satisfaction", "We don't need no education", etc. As to "guys", it has become generic in context. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 21:15, 18 July 2020 (UTC)
- For the plural use of "there's", see the usage notes at the Wiktionary entry for there's. It is a curious anomaly in English; not a mistake – except for a few diehard prescriptivists. For the mixed-gender use of "guys", see the usage notes at the Wiktionary entry for guy. It is another curious anomaly in English; not a mistake. This Master's Thesis (pdf) offers an overview of various ways of looking at the issues of this use of "guys". --Lambiam 21:23, 18 July 2020 (UTC)
- Thank you all for your links and advice!, ^_^ --CoryGlee (talk) 11:48, 19 July 2020 (UTC)
- These things are done for convenience - for example, "somebody has posted an order for pizza through the door - I'll get the delivery boy to take it round to them." I only recently became aware that people were using the word "guys" to identify people of both sexes - the description "a youth" refers specifically to a young man, but I have seen the description "youths" used to identify mixed groups. 2A00:23C5:E117:6100:6900:274:458:F067 (talk) 13:26, 19 July 2020 (UTC)
- I've heard groups of females call each other "you guys" for many years. Maybe more common in America. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 21:14, 19 July 2020 (UTC)
- These things are done for convenience - for example, "somebody has posted an order for pizza through the door - I'll get the delivery boy to take it round to them." I only recently became aware that people were using the word "guys" to identify people of both sexes - the description "a youth" refers specifically to a young man, but I have seen the description "youths" used to identify mixed groups. 2A00:23C5:E117:6100:6900:274:458:F067 (talk) 13:26, 19 July 2020 (UTC)