# "The times they are a-changing" a-? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 18, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-times-they-are-a-changing-a/585974 "2011-06-18T21:48:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-times-they-are-a-changing-a/585974/21 "2011-06-20T18:13:59Z")
No, it’s Hambone, Hambone. Where you been? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-times-they-are-a-changing-a/585974/22 "2011-06-20T18:27:14Z")
> [@Kevbo](#): > > This. It is a archaic leftover from the German pluperfect verb tense, which adds “ge” to the beginning of most verbs. This is the reason it is almost always used with a helping verb, most often “to be” or “to have” or their congugations…“are” in the Dillon lyric. (“to be”, congugated to match “they”) > > [Pluperfect - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluperfect) So it actually means ‘Summer has come in’, not “is a-comin’ in.” In archaic English up until after Shakespeare’s time, instead of saying “it has come” they conjugate the verb as “it **is** come.” Just like in French _il est venu_ (not \*_il a venu_). The final -_en_ in \*icumen \*is not the English present participle -\*ing \*(or -_in_’). It’s the old Germanic ending for the past participle, an ending which used to be used with practically all English verbs, but now for only some of them. And the English verb tense you’re looking for is [present perfect](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_verbs#Present_perfect). So to get the modern English present perfect construction, we had to: 1. Lose the _i_- prefix. (Sumer is cumen in.) 2. Lose the -_en_ suffix. (Summer is come in.) 3. Conjugate the perfect with _have_ instead of _be_. (Summer has come in.) ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-times-they-are-a-changing-a/585974/23 "2011-06-20T20:02:10Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > (Weapons?) Don’t know about Froggy, but it it were me, I’d have a sword AND a pistol by my side! ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-times-they-are-a-changing-a/585974/24 "2011-06-20T21:58:43Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Dylan! > As in [Dylan Thomas](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_Thomas) > > (Kevbo – that man ain’t got no culture 🙂 Actually, Robert Zimmerman took his _nom de plume_ from Dylan Thomas. Whether “a-changin’” has any basis in correct English, it can be considered poetic license, to fit the rhythm and make the sound more fluid. “The times they are a-changing” would not be proper English even if the “a” was omitted. Correct is “The times are changing,” but obviously this would detract from the song. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2011, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-times-they-are-a-changing-a/585974/25 "2011-06-20T23:10:12Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > [More info](http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=616625) It’s a great site for anyone interested in this stuff, and there are different sections where people are allowed to post in different languages. Seems quite active, too. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-times-they-are-a-changing-a/585974/26 "2011-06-21T11:23:46Z")
And I can’t listen to that siong without thinking of the movie _The Watchmen_, why is that? ---
**Author:** ![blood63](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@blood63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blood63)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-times-they-are-a-changing-a/585974/27 "2011-06-21T23:08:01Z")
Dylan’s hero was Woody Guthrie and he was very familiar with his material. Early in his career he fashioned a persona of a railway hobo to spice up a rather dull childhood story. He had surrounded himself in the works of various american folk artist for many years and he took on their phrases and wordings. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-times-they-are-a-changing-a/585974/28 "2011-06-22T14:44:21Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > (Weapons?) Got to carry weapons, 'cause he always carries cash. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-times-they-are-a-changing-a/585974/29 "2011-06-22T15:21:30Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > To be “on” a verb was an Old English way to express progressive tenses. Which is still used in the present day, in the expression “I’m on it,” meaning ‘currently engaged in action to produce a desired result’. Boss: Johanna, did you notice I assigned you a shitload of Slobbovian translations? Me: I’m on it, Boss! (My computer screen displaying the first one already halfway done.) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-times-they-are-a-changing-a/585974/30 "2011-06-22T16:11:27Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Got to carry weapons, 'cause he always carries cash. Got to be a joker, cuz he’s so hard to see. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-times-they-are-a-changing-a/585974.md?page=1)