# Language Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 13, 2014, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-question/707124 "2014-12-13T14:51:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-question/707124/41 "2014-12-14T18:18:49Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Leo Bloom, what’s your problem with that? Pretty sure he was kidding. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-question/707124/42 "2014-12-14T18:49:17Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > This, in its baldest reading, out of context, is obviously wrong. Why would you read something out of context when the context is explicitly given? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-question/707124/43 "2014-12-14T18:57:13Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Pretty sure he was kidding. I don’t know. He sounded like me when I’m feeling snippy. It happens. > [@John\_Mace](#): > > Why would you read something out of context when the context is explicitly given? Who said I did? Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-question/707124/44 "2014-12-14T19:07:49Z")
Pretty sure **Frylock** in post #41 was saying to **Wendell Wagner** that **Leo Bloom** had been kidding in post #38. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-question/707124/45 "2014-12-14T19:09:14Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > I don’t know. He sounded like me when I’m feeling snippy. It happens. > Who said I did? Sheesh. Would you feel better if I rephrased the questions as: Why would anyone read that out of context when the context is explicitly given? And if they did, why would we concern ourselves with it? IOW, why even bring it up? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-question/707124/46 "2014-12-14T19:23:32Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Would you feel better if I rephrased the questions as: > > Why would anyone read that out of context when the context is explicitly given? And if they did, why would we concern ourselves with it? IOW, why even bring it up? Because I wanted to make a profound, extremely important and brilliant point about the Yinglish word order, which is common and understandable as proper English with a distinct semantic intelligibility, yet identifiable to some as a grammatical Yinglishism. And, little did I know when I began, it got me to think up the nifty “gibberish–Yoda–Bill Buckley” thing, which is very clever overall, if I do say so myself, and particularly so in the context of this thread. Speaking of context. And really, who the hell ever knows what SD posters concern themselves with? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-question/707124/47 "2014-12-14T19:34:34Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > Pretty sure **Frylock** in post #41 was saying to **Wendell Wagner** that **Leo Bloom** had been kidding in post #38. Wait. Just re-read this. I wasn’t kidding. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-question/707124/48 "2014-12-14T20:07:55Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Wait. Just re-read this. I wasn’t kidding. What? Don’t be silly man of course you were. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2014, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-question/707124/49 "2014-12-14T20:08:55Z")
But more to the point since you were being serious after all: “A doctor he’s not” is not an OSV construction, and, The 0% figure is rounded, as was clearly specified in the post you were responding to. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-question/707124/50 "2014-12-15T11:46:16Z")
Enough already! OSV schmoSV, Yiddish constructions and word order are definitely reflected in English expressions like that one, used by a high percentage of New Yorkers and a smaller percentage of folks elsewhere. Frylock, would “Not a doctor, he is” be OSV (or perhaps SOV)? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2014, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-question/707124/51 "2014-12-15T13:24:01Z")
“The red ball he threw,” would be OSV. It’s not incomprehensible, but it’s Yodaese. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-question/707124.md?page=2)