[Search for users] [Overall Top Noters] [List of all Conferences] [Download this site]

Conference thebay::joyoflex

Title:The Joy of Lex
Notice:A Notes File even your grammar could love
Moderator:THEBAY::SYSTEM
Created:Fri Feb 28 1986
Last Modified:Mon Jun 02 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1192
Total number of notes:42769

552.0. "I Ain't Got Nobody" by SKIVT::ROGERS (Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate) Tue Aug 16 1988 15:22

...or I Ain't Got No One.  Which one is it?

Does anyone have the rule for when you use "nobody" vs. "no one"?  There must 
be a distinction, but I'm not sure what it is.

Curious_in_Vermont
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
552.1really, it's simple ...MARKER::KALLISAnger's no replacement for reasonTue Aug 16 1988 15:3510
    Re .0 (Curious):
    
    Dear Curious:
    
    "I ain't got no one" is used when a person asks if you can lend
    him or her a dollar, and you don't want to.
    
    "I ain't got no body" is used when the speaker is a ghost.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
552.2HOCUS::HOLLANDASK FOR DOPAMINE BY NAME!Tue Aug 16 1988 22:453
    Well, if you ain't got nobody, then you must have some body, ain't
    that so?  And it follows that, if you ain't got no one, then you
    probably have one - so what I want to know is - what's it like?
552.3straining mightilyMARKER::KALLISAnger's no replacement for reasonTue Aug 16 1988 22:497
    Re .2 (Holland):
    
    > .... - so what I want to know is - what's it like?
                      
    I am resisting that straightline.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
552.4you have our permissionDOODAH::RANDALLBonnie Randall SchutzmanTue Aug 16 1988 22:576
    re: .3
    
    Aw, go ahead, Steve . . . you're so good at it and the rest
    of us could use a laugh or two . . .
    
    --bonnie
552.5It's like this...AMUSED::CIUFFINIIf my Personal Name were a song, it Tue Aug 16 1988 23:065
        Is it like 
        'the music's beat equal to the speed of the car'? 
        jc
    
552.6my name's Paula, by the wayHOCUS::HOLLANDASK FOR DOPAMINE BY NAME!Wed Aug 17 1988 21:426
    Aw, c'mon, Steve, be not uncharacteristically shy....
    could it really be that they call you -
    
    Stevie Wonder?  
    
    Curious in NY
552.7resisting anything but temptation -- by popular demandERASER::KALLISAnger's no replacement for reasonWed Aug 17 1988 23:159
    Re .6 (Curious):
    
    Well, if I must ...
    
    > .... - so what I want to know is - what's it like?
    
    I thought these days anybody over 16 could answer _that_! ;-)
    
    Steve nKallis, Jr.
552.8What price naivity?LAMHRA::WHORLOWAbseiling is a real let-down!Thu Aug 18 1988 02:2910
    G'day,
    
    What makes with '16'? You live in a secluded area? or brought up
    sheltered?  They start _much_earlier than that round some parts
    round here!  :-(
    
    djw
    
    
    
552.9... App(ellation)ian Way? ...CURIUS::CIUFFINIIf my Personal Name were a song, it Thu Aug 18 1988 16:506
    re: 552.6
    
        "My name is Paula, by the way"
    
         What is your name all other times? :-)
         jc
552.10My name's Ms. Muffet, by the wheyHOCUS::HOLLANDASK FOR DOPAMINE BY NAME!Fri Aug 19 1988 00:0618
    re: 7
    
    over 16 ft away?  I couldn't hear them if they did
    over 16 blocks?  I'd never meet them
    over 16 inches?  No one would believe it, anyway.
    
    Thanks for the response, Steve n
                            
    re: 8
    
    G'day
    
    You guys obviously watch less children's TV after school than we do.
    
    Re: 9
    
    Depends on who you ask, and where I am when they reply.
    
552.11Over 16?SMURF::BINDERA complicated and secret quotidian existenceMon Aug 22 1988 19:117
Re: .7

	"...over 16..."

	All at *once*?  Gaw...

	- Dick
552.12... or seriallyMARKER::KALLISAnger's no replacement for reasonMon Aug 22 1988 20:327
    Re .11 (Dick):
    
    ... can also be pronounced "oversexed teen," if you so choose ...
    
    ;-) 
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
552.13I hate to change the subject, but...SKIVT::ROGERSLasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrateMon Aug 22 1988 23:174
Hey guys, should I start another note to ask about the difference between 
"nobody" and "no one"?

Still_curious_after_all_of_these_years
552.14Same difference.SMURF::BINDERA complicated and secret quotidian existenceTue Aug 23 1988 02:3423
Re: .13 (Still_curious_after_all_of_these_years)

> Hey guys, should I start another note to ask about the difference
> between "nobody" and "no one"? 

Nah, no need.  They're the same.  The American Heritage Dictionary
(horrors!) defines "nobody" this way: 

	nobody, pron.  1. No person; no one.  2. A person of no
	importance, influence, or social position. 

And the OED says this:

	nobody.  1. No person; no one.  2. A person, or persons, of no
	importance, authority or social position. 

And there you have it, fans, an actual documented case of *agreement* 
between the American Heritage and a *real* dictionary!  (Apologies to 
all of you who were enjoying Steve Kallis' exploration into the legal 
depths of statutory rope.  Give an over-16 (see reply 12) enough... 
Anyway, we now return you to your regularly scheduled note.) 

- Dick
552.15Skeleton's song... I ain't got nobody....LAMHRA::WHORLOWAbseiling is a real let-down!Tue Aug 23 1988 02:4926
    G'day,
    
    Nope! they differ. AHD says ....influence...., OED says
    ....authority....
    
    
    And the real meaning? (maybe)
    
    A nobody exists. There is no such thing as a no-one. So presumably
    the original, now obscured, difference lay in the level of abstraction
    indicated.
                         
    ie 
    
    'Nobody emptied the bin' implies that there was a set of persons
    who ought to have possibly emptied the bin, but none of them did.
    
    'No-one emptied the bin' implies that any person in the set of all
    persons could have done it, but none of them did.
    
    
    What d'yer fink abart dat den?
    
    djw
    
    
552.16DSSDEV::CANTORDave C.Tue Aug 23 1988 03:3626
      Re .15
      
>    'Nobody emptied the bin' implies that there was a set of persons
>    who ought to have possibly emptied the bin, but none of them did.
                                                     ====
      
>    'No-one emptied the bin' implies that any person in the set of all
>    persons could have done it, but none of them did.
                                     ====
      
      But 'none' is a synonym for 'no one.'  So in both cases no
      one of the set of persons who could have done it did it.
      I see no difference between the two examples.
      
      (By the way, do you all agree that 'none' takes a singular
      verb, since it the negation of 'one'?  No one is listening.
      None is listening.  (Nobody is listening.)
      
      Dave C.

      
      Nobody.  No one.  -->  Nobody one -->  Nobody won.
      
      "Did you hear about the Nobodian beauty contest?"
      
      "Yeah.  Nobody won."
552.17I hate it.REGENT::BROOMHEADDon't panic -- yet.Tue Aug 23 1988 21:585
    *I* was taught that "none" could be singular or plural.  (There
    are twenty-eleven students in this class, and none are listening
    to the teacher.)
    
    						Ann B.
552.18Get the little book...SKIVT::ROGERSLasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrateWed Aug 24 1988 22:1122
re. the last couple:

	With *none*, use the singular verb when the word means "no one" or
	"not one."

			NOT				PREFERRED

		None of us are perfect.		None of us is perfect.

	A plural verb is commonly used when *none* suggests more than one
	thing or person.

		None are so fallible as those who are sure they're right.


							Strunk & White
							The Elements of Style
							Third Edition
							New York, 1979


Larry
552.19TKOV51::DIAMONDThis note is illegal tender.Thu Apr 12 1990 07:583
    An Artificial Intelligence program has no body.
    
    A newly created page of virtual address space has no one.