Date:  Wed, 30 Nov 1994 18:21:15 -0800

From:  "Alan S. Kaye" <AKAYE[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CCVAX.FULLERTON.EDU>

Subject: Re: The great California freeway isogloss revisited



Re Sali Mufwene's comment on 'watching (the) TV':



Watching the tube, the boob tube, the box, etc. = watching the TV

(via simple lexical replacement). This is slangier:

cf.: He's watching TV again.

   He's watching the TV again. (more derision here).

No wonder everyone says that the #1 error in non-native speakers'

English is with the def. article.

--Alan Kaye--

akaye[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]fullerton.edu