Job Discussion Forums

[Lynn]

[khmerhit]

if i were a tishman lyrics by sherman allan

From the album togetherness
(parody of "If I Were A Rich Man" from Fiddler On The Roof)

Oh, New York is changing.
Wherever you look,
Big tall buildings by Tishman
Tishman, ahh...
If I were a Tishman,
Yum di diddle didle doody didle diddy didy di
(Yum di didle)
All day long I'd buildy buildy build,
If I were a building man.
I'd build a lot of buildings,
Yum di didle doody deedle didle deedle didle dum
(Yum di didle)
Building buildings anywhere I wish,
If I were a Tishy Tishy Tish.
I'd build the 666 5th Avenue building
Right in the middle of the town,
One block wide and forty-eight stories high.
And I'd have eighteen elevators going up
And twenty-seven more going down,
All of them express to pass you by.
(Di diddle di)
I'd build a ladies room and also a mens room,
Right there on each and every floor,
Each one in a style that is apropos.
And like the restrooms in the best office buildings,
You'd need a key to open up the door,
Though who would steal a bathroom, I dunno!
Oh, if I were a Tishman,
Yum di diddle doidle didle dadle doodle deedle dum
(Yum di didle)
All day long I'd buildy buildy build,
If I were a building man.
I'd build a lot of buildings,
Yum di doodle dadle didle deedle didle dodle dum
(Yum di didle)
I could realize my life's ambish,
Raising rents whenever I would wish,
Telling tenants, "You can call me pish."
If I were a rich Tishman
[email protected]

http://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:U4nHFiBnUm0J:www.lyricsfind.com/lyrics/5093/49974.php+fiddler+i+wish+i+were+a+rich+man+lyrics&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

[j-ang]

At the risk of sounding defensive or overly self-explaining...

I did not mean to imply that I teach "I wish I was..." because I don't.

My students can attest that I enforce correct, standard grammar.
It is important, I feel, to tell them that they will encounter different forms
of some grammar structures in their English speaking lives. They need to
know that these structures, while grammatically incorrect, are accepted
in general (usually spoken, often regional) usage and carry the same meaning. These informalities are constantly changing.

I am American by birth and education. The texts in common use in Europe
present British English. My students read one thing in their books and may
hear something else from me. Which is correct? This may or may not
extend to "was" vs. "were" but certainly includes "at" vs. "on" the weekend,
"have" vs. "have got" and "should have" vs "should have done".

We, as teachers, should indeed teach what is correct but we also need to
inform our students of what they will actually meet in real life.

[Capergirl]

[greentea]

Michael Swan's "Practical English Usage" puts it simply and well :

We often use "were" instead of "was" after "if". This is common in both formal and informal styles. In a formal style it is much more common than "was", and many people consider it more correct, especially in American English.

(page 248 / 260.4 )

[jud]

"I wish I was a millionaire" and "I wish I were a millionaire" are both imaginary and unlikely situations.

It's the same idea as the second conditional:

If I were a rich man, all day long I'd biddle biddle bum.

If I was a rich man, all day long....

The Cutting Edge books include both forms and consider both correct, merely saying that "If I were" is more formal, particularly in written English.

I'm pretty sure that "If I was" in the second conditional would be accepted both on the First and Proficiency exams, as less formal does not mean incorrect.

[biffinbridge]

what useless info r u gonna teach 'em next?

[jud]

What's not useful: the form or the almost non-existent difference

[biffinbridge]

i wish i'd done something else

[Corey]

[dduck]

[jud]

Ah, dduck, a voice of sanity.

In any case, I did check Swan myself. In addition to what was already quoted in this thread, he says that many people use "I wish I were" but does not call "I wish I was" incorrect.

I wish I was able to understand the point that biffinbridge is trying to make, though.

Maybe I need to finish my glass of Jack D.

[some waygug-in]

Here we are folks, direct from the man in black. Yes Johnny Cash himself used both forms in his song titles.

check out: If I were a Carpenter.

I wish I was crazy again.

http://maninblack.net/lyrics/lyricsindex.htm#"I"

What has this got to do with the arguement? Well, only to show that average everday people use both forms commonly, regardless of what grammarians say or teach.


Cheers

If the ocean was whisky and I was a duck,
I'd swim to New England and hope for a ..............

[dyak]

Thread resuscitation... sorry, but just came across the following -

He shouted at me as if I were deaf

or

He shouted at me as if I was deaf.

?

[johnslat]

Dear dyak,
Depends on how strict a grammarian you are:

" He shouted at me as if I were deaf. "

is the grammatically correct sentence. It's the second conditional, one of the " unreal "conditionals. " Were " is used in the 2nd conditional, no matter what ( or who ) the subject is. So you have " as if I were " , " as if he/she/it were ", etc. The " real meaning " denoted is that you are, in fact, not deaf. It's like that popular way of giving advice, " If I were you, . . .".
Having said that, let me note that the use of " were " with the subjects " I ", " he ", " she " and " it " in the unreal conditional is not very commonly practiced in " real life " ( with the exception of grammar teachers; you know guys like me ( and gals, also, but not like me with respect to gender ) who say stuff such as, " It is/was I ". It does have a certain justification because the use of " were " emphasizes the " unreality " of the statement it's in - for example, you can have a " was " statement about a situation that was at least possible, but not " unreal "
e.g. A: Was Bill at the party?
B: Yes, he was.
A. Well, if he was there, I didn't see him.
So, if you want to stress grammatical correctness, go with, " as if I were deaf "; but the average man/woman on the street would likely say, " as if I was deaf ".
Regards,
John