this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2023
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Linguistics

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[Question] „She knows her semantics“: Excessive use of posessive pronouns in English (lemmy.ml)
submitted 1 year ago by ChaoticNeutralCzech@lemmy.ml to c/linguistics@lemmy.ml
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Phrases like know one's [general subject of interest] are very annoying to me because they seem rather self-centered. I am obviously fine with knows his way around or Know Your Customer because the use of possesive pronouns is appropriate.
On the other hand, now I know my ABCs is atrocious because the modern Latin alphabet obviously does not and never did belong to a single person, and has been used by billions of people in the last few centuries.

Do you know other English phrases with unnecessary posessive or personal pronouns? Do they exist in other languages? Is there a name for this linguistic phenomenon? Where do I complain? ~/s~

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[–] ChaoticNeutralCzech@lemmy.ml -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

OK, I kinda get it. However, I will still be drawing a rage comic about this once I get a graphics tablet.

Rage comic idea◰ Kid: *sings to a sing-along video on their tablet* "♪ now I know my ABCs ♫"

◳ Ghost of Karl Marx: *appears* "DON'T SAY THAT!"
Kid: *shocked*

◱ Karl Marx: *monologue all over the panel* "The modern Latin alphabet is not your private property! It is in the public domain, the collective ownership of mankind, and used by all English speakers as well as by literate people all over the world with minor variations. Billions of lives were made easier with a common writing system and a standard ordering of its glyphs. Learning what countless other children in the past few centuries have mastered does not give you the right to claim ownership of this knowledge and, in fact,..."
Kid: "Oh my god!"

◲ Karl Marx: *slaps kid with Das Kapital* ~(or~ ~maybe~ ~a~ ~better~ ~punchline,~ ~IDK)~