Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2024 May 13

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May 13

English variety where "what it's" is grammatical

I think I've heard there's a variety of English (might be a creole) where sentences like "What it's is..." or "It's what it's" (as opposed to "what it is") are possible. Do you know what that's? Nardog (talk) 04:48, 13 May 2024 (UTC)

Ordinarily in English, stressed words don't contract (cliticize to the preceding word), and in the sentence "It is what it is", both occurrences of "is" are stressed. I can't rule out that there's some form of English without such a constraint, but it would probably be rather remote from quasi-standard English. AnonMoos (talk) 09:26, 13 May 2024 (UTC)

"It's what it's doing that matters" is normal (British) English, but that sentence moves the stress on to "doing". -- Verbarson  ^talk_edits 16:16, 13 May 2024 (UTC)

Also normal in American English, with the same caveat. --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 11:49, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

And that's not what I'm asking about. Nardog (talk) 19:34, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

-er

Is a person who is a beer , a person who must a muster or a person who can a canner? --40bus (talk) 20:29, 13 May 2024 (UTC)

No.[1][2][3] ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:35, 13 May 2024 (UTC)

"Beer" is marginally possible (though in a context that makes it clear that there's not a reference to an alcoholic beverage -- see "beable"), but the others are not. In English, modals can have two forms (can/could, may/might, will/would) or one (must, ought). In no case are there non-finite forms. AnonMoos (talk) 21:39, 13 May 2024 (UTC)

On the other hand, a canner might muster a beer. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:36, 13 May 2024 (UTC)

But can an oughter be mayer? GalacticShoe (talk) 08:31, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

A person who can can is a potential canner. People who can professionally are canners. A person who must muster is an obligatory musterer.  --Lambiam 07:07, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

And a person who can can can is a dancer.--User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 21:05, 16 May 2024 (UTC)

Beer was a beer but is now a waser. The OED has an entry for it with the definition "One who is or exists; sometimes spec[ifically] the Self-existent, the great I Am", calling it obsolete and rare. They give three usages, the earliest dating from before 1382 and the latest from 1602. No joy on canner or muster. --Antiquary (talk) 08:32, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

"If it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't." ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:37, 13 May 2024 (UTC)

I have seen some beers, but Yogi's even beerah'! 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 10:14, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

If this is an answ, I am an answer. -- Verbarson  ^talk_edits 15:05, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

We have "do-er", so "be-er" might be more easily understood than "beer". Alansplodge (talk) 15:57, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

There was a Usenet-famous character who used to throw the word "beable" around, for some reason. I never knew exactly what it was supposed to mean. But a nice explanation someone came up with is that it's the ontological counterpart to the quantum notion of an observable. --Trovatore (talk) 22:08, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Those might be the same folks who spell "no one" as "noone", which always reminds me of Herman's Hermits. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:29, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

To beer or not to beer, that is the questioner. Clarityfiend (talk) 08:40, 15 May 2024 (UTC)