Timeline for What is the meaning, history, and current popularity of "of a Monday" (or Tuesday, or Wednesday, etc.)?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
16 events
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| Mar 12, 2014 at 3:02 | comment | added | sarah | @BarrieEngland I edited the question trying to clarify what I'm trying to find out. Maybe it needs further editing. I don't understand what "genitive of time" is, but I do get the "implying regularity or repetition." So, is the OED saying "of a Sunday" is now only used to apply to a thing done regularly or often on Sunday? Also, how can I find out about the meaning and popularity of this phrase in American English? | |
| Jul 15, 2013 at 5:51 | comment | added | Barrie England | All I can say is that it is very informal. I wouldn't expect to find it in, for example, academic prose. | |
| Jul 14, 2013 at 0:46 | comment | added | sarah | @BarrieEngland if you will address current usage in your answer I think I would select it. | |
| Jan 15, 2012 at 19:05 | comment | added | Barrie England | @sarah: That would be a normal way of expressing it in BrEng. | |
| Jan 15, 2012 at 18:46 | comment | added | sarah | @ Barrie I couldn't believe my ears! Last night, on (American TV show) Saturday Night Live, a skit had the Mitt Romney character say, "the fact is, the whole family and I love to watch sporting events on television of a weekend." The skit was emphasizing his awkwardness, stiffness, and rich-guyness (financially upper classness.) | |
| Jan 12, 2012 at 5:03 | comment | added | Julia | I would only add that it's currently standard in Appalachia, less commonly with the day of the week, but quite commonly with the time of day. "I like to sit here of an evening." | |
| Jan 11, 2012 at 17:12 | comment | added | Barrie England | @sarah: Yes, there are other possibilities, but 'of a decade' is not among them. By ‘Standard English’ I meant that variety of the language that is, in one linguist’s words, ‘(1) written in published work, (2) spoken in situations where published writing is most influential, especially in education (and especially at University level), (3) spoken “natively” (at home) by people who are most influenced by published writing - the “professional class” ’. I don’t think you’d find the ‘of a’ construction in such places. | |
| Jan 11, 2012 at 16:27 | comment | added | cindi | @Sarah : I +1ed the answer not the comment | |
| Jan 11, 2012 at 15:49 | comment | added | sarah | @BarrieEngland I see. So, along with of a weekday and of an evening, I'm guessing of an afternoon and of a morning. Any others? of an October? Of a decade? Haha. Probably not. When you say no longer standard English, that surprises me, as I've heard it frequently enough from Brits. | |
| Jan 11, 2012 at 9:47 | comment | added | Barrie England | @cindi: I’m not really qualified to say. German has the preposition ‘auf’, but I don’t know its etymology and the translation of ‘of’, where it’s needed, is usually ‘von’. However, there is an expression ‘Die Nacht auf Dienstag’, literally ‘the night on (but possibly of) Tuesday’, which means ‘Monday night’. We need a German language specialist to tell us more. | |
| Jan 11, 2012 at 9:38 | comment | added | cindi | @BarrieEngland: I was really wondering if there was a parallel construction in German (or other cousin language) to "I have a lie-in of a Sunday" | |
| Jan 10, 2012 at 18:42 | comment | added | Barrie England | @cindi: You mean the genitive of time? Yes, it survives in German expressions such as 'eines Tages' - one day. | |
| Jan 10, 2012 at 17:36 | comment | added | cindi | +1 : for the etymology - it would be interesting to know if an equivalent survived in German. | |
| Jan 10, 2012 at 15:30 | comment | added | Barrie England | @sarah: The OED’s note on this usage says ‘Apparently taking the place of the Germanic and Old English genitive of time. Now only implying regularity or repetition.’ It’s also found in expressions such as ‘I like to have a beer or two of an evening.’ I doubt, however, if it was ever used to the total exclusion of anything else and I don’t think we can any longer consider it as being Standard English. | |
| Jan 10, 2012 at 14:10 | comment | added | sarah | Yes. Great examples. So, was this at any time used to the exclusion of on a Monday? or on Monday? While the of_construction sounds lovelier to me, poetic even, _on makes more sense. I'm sure it's mostly because it's what I'm used to, but then in the case of on vs. in, which I ask about here, while in sounds wrong, I can better understand the sense of it than the of in of a Sunday. Also, any info on American English usage of this? | |
| Jan 10, 2012 at 12:11 | history | answered | Barrie England | CC BY-SA 3.0 |