A couple of summers ago, I noticed "try and" on the pages of the NY Times three times in a two-week period, the last time on the editorial page.  So I wrote the editor of the editorial page and asked whether the Times had decided "try and" had moved into the category of acceptable or whether these were copyeditor errors.  He replied that it had definitely not become acceptable.  He added that he was forwarding my email to the copyediting dpt to alert them to the problem.  

I wrote back and asked how they knew it had not become acceptable.  He didn't reply.


Peter



On Apr 30, 2010, at 12:40 PM, John Dews-Alexander wrote:

Interesting question, Janet! This is a great example of something I'm sure we all encounter daily, yet we often don't give it much explicit thought. I would guess that "try'n" for "try and" is alive and well since it seems like a pretty natural reduction in speech. This morning I heard, "You just try'n catch me". I wouldn't have thought twice about it had I not read your email first.

Is there a difference in meaning here that motivates the choice?

"Try and catch me."
"Try to catch me."

"Try and use it."
"Try to use it."

Or is there some grammaticalization going on?

This would be fun to discuss with my students in our weekly Language Lab. I look forward to others' perspectives on the issue.

John
Austin, TX

On Fri, Apr 30, 2010 at 11:14 AM, Castilleja, Janet <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
 

Hello

 
 
 

Dave Wilton word origins

 

“Okay, so one should not try and use it as a style guide or a reference.”

 

I found this in a review of Eats, Shoots and Leaves.

 

This usage really bothers me.  It’s just like fingernails on a blackboard. It seems to me that one is not going to do two things: ‘try’ and ‘use.’  Rather, one is going to try to do one thing: ‘use.’  This usage is so common that I have to wonder what is going on.  Is this going to turn into something like ‘let’s’? Will it soon be ‘try’n,’ like a sort of quasi-semi-modal?

 

Opinions?

 

Janet

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