# English usage question: Indirect objects **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 8, 2024, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-usage-question-indirect-objects/995798 "2024-01-08T23:23:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-usage-question-indirect-objects/995798/21 "2024-01-12T04:08:25Z")
I like the construct, “Throw me down the stairs a pillow.” ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-usage-question-indirect-objects/995798/22 "2024-01-12T06:24:31Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > “Throw me down the stairs a pillow.” My dialect would require “a pillow” to precede “down the stairs”. I think pillow = direct object me = indirect object down the stairs = prepositional phrase? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-usage-question-indirect-objects/995798/23 "2024-01-12T14:17:40Z")
There is an established dialect where “Throw me down the stairs a pillow” is standard, but I can’t remember which one. Yiddish-influenced, I think it is? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-usage-question-indirect-objects/995798/24 "2024-01-12T15:10:10Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Yiddish-influenced, I think it is? I think so too, and what I could find online agrees. Famous example: “Throw Momma from the train a kiss.” > **[‘Throw Momma from the Train’ …](https://www.maderatribune.com/single-post/2017/05/13/-throw-momma-from-the-train)** > > Tomorrow is Mother’s Day. If you take Amtrak to visit your mother on her special day, be sure to follow this advice. When it’s time to head for home and Amtrak is leaving the station, be sure to throw Momma from the train … a kiss. The weird syntax... ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-usage-question-indirect-objects/995798/25 "2024-01-12T15:35:44Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > I bet. > I bet him. > I bet $5. > I bet that it would happen. > I bet him $5. > I bet him that it would happen. > I bet $5 that it would happen. > I bet him $5 that it would happen. > > [ETA: ninjaed] > [@Chronos](#): > > “I bet you $5 to your favorite charity that I can top that” > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I bet $5 you and Hari got me. And I thought betting was forbidden in this board even when it makes a good example both as a matter of principle and for practical and ethical reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-usage-question-indirect-objects/995798/26 "2024-01-12T16:20:33Z")
If it exists in Yiddish, it’s probably influenced by Germanic languages, especially German, where you will often have the indirect object (or dative object, as it would be called in German grammar) preceding the direct one (the accusative object). ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-usage-question-indirect-objects/995798/27 "2024-01-12T17:12:27Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > There is an established dialect where “Throw me down the stairs a pillow” is standard, but I can’t remember which one. This reminds me of Pennsylvania Amish dialectic English, which is also influenced by a Germanic dialect or language (Plautdietsch), like the aforementioned Yiddish’s influence on English: > **[Pennsylvania Dutch English](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Dutch_English)** > > Pennsylvania Dutch English is a dialect of English that has been influenced by the Pennsylvania Dutch language. It is largely spoken in South Central Pennsylvania, both by people who are monolingual in English and bilingual in Pennsylvania Dutch and English. The dialect has been dying out, as non-Amish younger Pennsylvania Germans tend to speak General American English. > Very few non-Amish members of these people can speak the Pennsylvania German language, although most know some words and phras... > Special placement of prepositional phrases in sentences (so that “Throw some hay over the fence for the horse” might be rendered “Throw the horse over the fence some hay”). ---
**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-usage-question-indirect-objects/995798/28 "2024-01-12T18:32:27Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Throw Momma from the train a kiss. What a difference an object makes… ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-usage-question-indirect-objects/995798/29 "2024-01-13T04:09:43Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > This reminds me of Pennsylvania Amish dialectic English My mom lived in Pa. Amish country and that’s where she told me she heard it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-usage-question-indirect-objects/995798.md?page=1)