LINGUIST List 7.955

Sun Jun 30 1996

Disc: Not really

Editor for this issue: T. Daniel Seely <dseelyemunix.emich.edu>

Directory

1. rowe, re: disc: not really/not just real
2. "Ricardo Freitas", Subject: 7.939, Disc: not really

The phrase "not just REAL sick" may indeed be restricted to
Southern US/NC/coastal, or some version thereof.

It turns out that the phrase as I am familiar with it
translates perfectly into German as:

Er ist nicht halt ganz/sehr krank.

Here the *halt* particle functions as the *just* particle does
in the Southern dialect I have quoted here.

The interjection particle *like* which, I am aware, there is a
good bit of literature on, functions in much the same way in
colloquial standard American English:

He's not, like, REAL sick [ie, but, sick enough at any rate!]

Charlie Rowe
roweemail.unc.edu

To me, the sentence "He's not just real (really) sick." does not mean
that the use of 'just' reverse the 'sign' (meaning) of the phrase. It
rather means that "He's not just (ONLY) real (really) sick", i.e.,
there is something else ... What do you think?

 | Ricardo Freitas | 
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