Thread: belongsa

What does "belongsa" stand for? belong...?

"Who belongsa this?" Ackley said. He was holding my roommate's knee supporter up to show me.

I suspect that "Who belongsa this?" is a slurred way of saying "Who belongs to this?", which is a colloquial way of expressing the idiom "Who does this belong to?" ("To whom does this belong?" is grammatically correct.)

Hope I've helped

Joe

Ah... i see now. Earlier when u asked me alex, i couldn't see but yea, i think that's right. Usually when talking we will replace small prepositions, with just "sounds". Like "A".

its' really stupid to put this in a book though.

Some examples from regular speach though would be like...

"we'oin ta thamall ?"

"(are) we going to the mall ?"

"Throw (air) ball t' me"
"Throw the ball to me"

instead of saying "the ball", if ur in a hurry u can just kinda breath out and then say Ball, without even saying the word "the", the puase will take its place. Though, this is only like, when playing sports, or something, and you dont have time to say "THE".

everybody abbreviates there own language at times, its not an English or American phenomena!!!!

This question is mostly directed to Brits. How often do you say words like "kinda", "sorta", "gonna" and so on?

All the darned time, BETEP.

Especially ''kinda'' and ''gonna''.

None of the darned time, BETEP!

Joseph, dogboy thanks.
I was just confused by the word order, I didn't think that the question "Who belongs to this?" is correct. I thought the only right one is "Who does this belong to?" that was why I couldn't guess.

I am confused. Two Brits - two opinions.

Some people pride themselvs on their speaking habits and speak only correct English. Others are more relaxed and drop letters at the end of words and blend the words together. A lot has to do with where you live and who you associate with. I mean, I can't really picture the Queen, for instance using "kinda or gonna" at her tea parties.

Originally Posted by BETEP

I am confused. Two Brits - two opinions.

One of them was sarcasm.

Which one?

Guess.

Well, it's a relief. Had worried that I was doing it unconsciously.

Edit: if you need a serious answer, ВЕТЕР, I would say that all three are extremely common in spoken British English. To the point that a conversation seldom passes without at least one of them being used.

joysof wrote: "in spoken british english". thats an oxymoron! Since the language is orignally English its wrong to say british english, theres english, and then theres the american varient to it.

-idiot!!!

Originally Posted by smithnweson

joysof wrote: "in spoken british english". thats an oxymoron!

Actually, I notice that joysof said, 'in spoken British English'.

I thought oxymoron was a kinda (just put that in for joysof paradox, a combination of incongruous words like deafening silence. I guess, in the context of your post, you might have meant that the phrase 'British English' was tautologous. What do you think

Originally Posted by alexei

What does "belongsa" stand for? belong...?

"Who belongsa this?" Ackley said. He was holding my roommate's knee supporter up to show me.

Just really repeating what has been said above. I don't know anything about Salinger's 'The Catcher in the Rye' but -

"Who belongsa this?" Ackley said.

is "Who belongs to this", which is a kind of joke. Just like holding up a large shoe and saying the same thing.

The whole story is fulla truncated words n stuff like "Where the hellja get that hat?" - obviously - "Where the hell did you get that hat?"

Hey alexei. I hope you enjoyed the, "tickled the pants off Ackley" phrase

Yeah, there are a lot of "willya", "don'tcha" etc and I can guess what them mean because of the normal word order.

Mike, of course I enjoyed it :) I enjoyed the entire book. It's great!

oxy moron means something that is already obvious from the previous statement or word for example "I have a big mansion" or "British English"! its oxymoronic!

Originally Posted by smithnweson

oxy moron means something that is already obvious from the previous statement or word

No. That is incorrect. (1) oxymoron - an epigrammatic effect, by which contradictory terms are used in conjunction: beautiful tyrant (The Collins English Dictionary). (2) The reference for my original post - it is a kind of paradox, a combination of incongruous words like deafening silence - 'The Grammar Guide' by Grodon Jarvie.

In Russian Lingvo gives: оксюморон ( сочетание противоположных по значению слов ), which means a combination of contradictory (or opposite) words. The same meaning is set out in http://krossw.narod.ru/htm/16/1671.htm - ОКСИМОРОН (оксюморон) (греч. oxymoron - букв. - остроумно-глупое), стилистическая фигура, сочетание противоположных по значению слов ("живой труп" - Л. Н. Толстой; "жар холодных числ" - А. А. Блок).

Where do you get your definition from