Polling The Poll Of Polls, 2011

[koganbot]

Mark informs us, "This is the time of year when I require a POLL OF ALL THE POLLS, to diminish the absurdly extensive 'end of year' music commentary I am almost certainly never going to get round to reading."

[Poll #1813388]

Comments

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

Fowler's Modern English Usage: "around is, in British usage, a variant of round disappearing until recently* but now coming back under American influence... American usage is quite different; among the examples in an American dictionary are the following, all of which are still** unnatural for an Englishman: He went through, but I ran a.; He turned a.; The earth turns a. on its axis; Go a. to the post office; The church a. the corner."

(Interestingly, the Oxford Shorter notes that "around" is a relatively late coinage, also: very rare before the 17th century. This is interesting partly because -- to me -- using "around" except in jocular or versificatory contexts feels like bogus archaism, not dissimilar to saying "I am abed" instead of "I'm off to bed.")

* **(My guess is that "recently" and "still" relate to the 1926 edition rather than the mid-50s edition, though I have no easy way of telling.)

[koganbot]

Aha. I'd incorrectly assumed that "round" was an informal coinage based on "around." Anyhow, first edition of the American Heritage gives "around" for the definition of "round" in its adverbial and prepositional form. And it doesn't qualify the word as "slang" or "informal," so no apostrophe would be needed even in American English. (But I'm not going to change my vote.)

The title of the Chuck Berry recording is "Around And Around"; the first time he comes up on it, he pronounces it "round 'n' around," the other times simply "round 'n' round." The Rolling Stones keep the American title but Mick sings it "round 'n' round." David Bowie, however, went all the way and spelled it "Round And Round."

Did the stand-alone phrase "I get around" ever exist in the UK?* I don't see how it could work as "I get round," though I do think "I'll get round to it" works fine. The "to it" makes us able to tell from context that you're not just getting chubby.

*Or "she sleeps around"?

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

"sleep around" and "get around" certainly exist here, though they're fairly recent -- as in since the 1950s? -- presumably american imports originally, though i doubt they'd be tagged as such now: the american usage has basically arrived to stay in lots of forms

eric partridge, writing in usage and abusage (1st edn late 40s), says that "about town"/"about Christmas" is correct, and "around town"/"around Christmas"/"round town"/"round Christmas" are incorrect (unless you actually mean walking round the town perimeter) -- so presumably would have preferred the beach boys to sing "i get about" rather than "i get around" -- but all the arounds/rounds are commonly used these days

even now i would say that "i walked all around town" involves more expansive journeys than "i walked all about town", though the latter now feels a tiny bit dated perhaps -- at least in middle class or london english

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

i said "versificatory or jocular" contexts above; in fact both "i get around" and "she sleeps around" feel to me not quite "respectable", albeit in slightly different ways (the second's a euphemism, obviously, the first's more like a nod-and-a-wink)-- so maybe i'd expand to "versificatory or jocular or mildly suggestive" contexts, or something like that

obviously i'm old: don't know how kat or hazel would feel...

[koganbot]

(Also, "I get round" wouldn't work as a substitute for "I get around" — at least around here — owing to its having a different meaning: "I get (a)round him" would mean "I go (a)round him," implying that he's someone one is supposed to go through (say a supervisor) or at least who wants to be in your way so that you have to go through him, but that you've managed to sidestep him. And — see the interjection that Dave cites, possibly drawing on the following usage — "I can't get round this" is short for "I can't get my head around this" and the like, "can't comprehend this.")