Ever Heard This?

brogine
Lexiterian
Posts: 229
Joined: Sun Feb 11, 2007 4:41 pm

Ever Heard This?

Postby brogine » Sun Feb 07, 2021 3:26 pm

Among my mother’s circle in Brooklyn - back in the fifties and sixties - one would say ‘Mention by you’ in response to some kind of congratulations, meaning, I think, ‘May you be similarly blessed’.
Ever heard anything like this?

bnjtokyo
Lexiterian
Posts: 384
Joined: Thu Jul 07, 2016 7:16 pm

Re: Ever Heard This?

Postby bnjtokyo » Tue Feb 09, 2021 7:40 pm

First, No, I haven't heard this expression.
Second, is there a typo in this? Did your mother say "mention by you" (as quoted) or "mentioned by you," with a past tense -ed? In latter, the syntax seems to me to reflect the semantics/pragmatics of the situation.
Third, in pragmatic terms, the expression seems similar to "So who's counting?" a sort of passive - agressive phrase meaning something like "Why did you bring that topic I shouldn't brag about up for?"

brogine
Lexiterian
Posts: 229
Joined: Sun Feb 11, 2007 4:41 pm

Re: Ever Heard This?

Postby brogine » Tue Feb 09, 2021 9:11 pm

Thanks, bnj. No, I wrote it as it was. And I’m certain there was nothing negative in the intent.

Apropos of nothing at all . . . but I just ran across a line I copied from a novel. I think you’ll appreciate this:

“ . . . and that if I wasn’t careful, I was courting disaster - or at least asking it out on a first date.”

All the best.

David Myer
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Location: Melbourne

Re: Ever Heard This?

Postby David Myer » Sun Jun 20, 2021 9:44 pm

Nice line. What novel was it in?

brogine
Lexiterian
Posts: 229
Joined: Sun Feb 11, 2007 4:41 pm

Re: Ever Heard This?

Postby brogine » Wed Jun 23, 2021 2:20 am

Hi. I’m pretty sure it was one of the Longmire novels by Craig Johnson. He also wrote something quite like “ . . . gray hair framing a face carved from hard wood, with a dull chisel.”


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