Re: [Lingo] Re: [tlug] Correct particle to use

["David J Iannucci" <jlinux@example.com>]

>> http://www.cybercrea.net/beauty/ther_050127_01.htm
>
> Reading this made me cringe.

Hmmm, yeah... I only read the first couple paragraphs, but it is
somewhat jarring, isn't it...

> I'm sorry, I just don't see how it is communicating something
> different than the が version, and it just sounds so... wrong.

I can actually sympathize totally with this author.  So often I have
been frustrated by the infuriating ambiguity of determining who/what are
the subject (actually "agent/experiencer") and the object (actually
"patient") in a case of 好き.  Of course this comes from the fact
that
both are normally marked as subject (or topic), because of a peculiarity
of Japanese.

The author apparently wanted to express the difference between the two
meanings of this phrase straightforwardly, without having to go through
rhetorical acrobatics to make the agent/patient distinction. Grammar was
sacrificed, but he(she?) must have thought it a worthwhile tradeoff, and
I agree.  I can't imagine how ugly that article would have been if the
author had held to grammatical correctness.  In a more conservative
time, I'm sure grammar would have won out, but the author knew he could
depend on his hip, modern (and exposed-to-English) audience to "get" it.

Dave