Masayuki
What does it mean from grammatical view point ? "Love me a man who irons." My American friend posted on a SNS saying " Love me a man who irons." Here is my question. Does this sentence mean that the man loves a woman, who posted? If so, "a man" is a subject in this sentence? and why this form is correct?
2017년 3월 14일 오후 3:24
답변 · 6
3
Hi Masayuki, This sentence is a slightly shortened version of a weird colloquial phrase. Sometimes when someone wants to say they always like something (but express that in a more colloquial way, usually for light comedic effect), they can use the phrase "I love me _____________" Examples include: "Oh, I love me some Thai food! Good suggestion on where to go for lunch." "I love me a good cup of coffee in the morning! There's no better way to start the day." So in this case, when your friend said "[I] love me a man who irons", she's saying she really loves a man who irons [clothing]. In other words, she might be looking for someone to help her with the housework! Hope that helps. If you have any questions, let me know.
2017년 3월 14일
2
"Why is this form correct?" I'm not sure that it *is* technically correct, but it sounds natural in the US, particularly in rural areas. It's a fun and colorful speech pattern and it's logical enough to be explained. First, "a man who irons" is an adjectival clause. We're not talking about men in general, we're talking about a subset of men where that subset can be defined as "men who iron". We can simplify that adjectival clause to a simple noun without changing the meaning of the "love me a <XX>" idiom, so let's do that. Let's simplify it to "coffee", to give "love me a coffee". The word "I" is omitted, but it's understood to be there. The long form is "I love me a coffee". This is a reflexive form, similar to "I got me a coffee". But "me" is degenerate, and it should be "myself", to give "I got myself a coffee", in other words "My 'getting' of a (cup of) coffee makes it (feel like) the property of myself". So, "I love me a coffee" means "My love of a (cup of) coffee makes it (feel like) the property of myself". Now, back to the original phrase. Hopefully you can now see that "Love me a man who irons" means "My love for a person in the set 'men who iron' makes him (feel like) the property of myself."
2017년 3월 14일
1
Having looked at the consensus from the other answerers I suspect they are correct in this instance, and that your friend is using an American construction that might seem strange or be misunderstood by us Brits.
2017년 3월 14일
1
Is your friend a man or woman? If a man I would understand it to be an invitation for somebody to love him, an important reason why he should be loved is that he irons his clothes. Another way of putting it would be 'somebody please love me! I iron my clothes!,' With the implication that not all men iron.
2017년 3월 14일
"Love me a man that irons," or, "I love me a man that irons." This is an expressive sort of construction, which essentially means "I love a man that irons", or "I love men that iron", "iron" being the verb for ironing clothes. The "I" is omitted, and in some cases like this can be omitted in speech or to shorten a sentence for whatever purpose (e.g. "Love it!", "Don't like that", "Can't see", etc.). You could also say for example: "I love me some French fries!". It's not exactly "correct" grammar, but it makes sense in it's use as a casual expression.. Other English speakers can piggy-back this notion and add to it, I'm not even exactly sure where this construction comes from, haha.
2017년 3월 14일
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