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Each week I enjoy listening to the "Pop Culture Happy Hour" podcast from NPR. However, something the host says at the beginning of each episode kind of bothers me. She begins to introduce her fellow panelists by saying, "...and I am here around the table with...". It makes me think that she HERSELF is "around" the table, which sounds kind of stretchy and painful to me. Wouldn't it be better for her to say something like, "Around the table with me is..."?
In other words, I don't think one person can be "around" a table, even if there are others that will be joining her. Am I just too sensitive or does this bother anyone else?
I would also say "... I am here AT the table with ..." The original construction just sounds awkward to me.
It did remind me of a comedy sketch, I think by Rodney Dangerfield, that included a bunch of one-liners following "She was SO fat ..."
1. when she laid (sic) around the house, she laid AROUND the house.
2. she had watches on both wrists ... set to different time zones.
3. she hit the fridge so many times at night, the neighbors thought she had a strobe light in the kitchen.
4. her height was 5 foot 10 ... lying down.
There were a few more, but that's all I can recall at the moment.
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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