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Quote
with sssoul
>> English lessons <<
yes, love (in the sense of the feeling) is a noncount noun so it's not standard to say "a love".*
and yes, someone could refer to their lover as their love, in which case it's a count noun,
so in that sense "a love" is theoretically possible, but not normal.** "my love" would be way more likely
(nota bene to Dandelion Powderman: i'm not suggesting that "my love" is what Keith's singing in Happy -
i'm just mentioning it as an example of normal/natural English, okay? :E )
* "a love" does occur, of course, in (mostly poetic) phrases like a love like ours,
but i'm talking about normal usage, as in how anyone would normally say "i need love"
** okay okay, some people say things like "be a love and let me use your car",
but that's Special English for Buttering-Up :E
Keith is also known to use "love" in direct address to women, as in "how ya doin, love?"
but when he's referring to women in the third person, he rather famously tends to use other terms :E
Quote
with sssoul
thanks - i am cognizant of that usage as well, and should indeed have included it
in my one-post mini-lesson about count/noncount usage of the word love.
and i still maintain that on either side of the Atlantic, i need a love is not normal usage -
not that it's "impossible", but it is not the way anyone would *normally* say
"i need someone or something to love", or "i need someone to love me", or "i need to feel love, be in love, etc".
it is a noticeably peculiar way to phrase any of those things, in UK English as well as US English.
>> I would venture to suggest that "Anita love to keep me happy" really would play havoc ... <<
as i've already noted, i'm not saying it's normal syntax. i'm saying it's a play on words/sounds:
the songwriter chose to use a noticeably peculiar phrase, the first three syllables of which
sound (listen to it!) just like the name of his long-term partner, so it comes out to "Anita love"
and "i need a love" at the same time. i perceive that similarity in sound as deliberate wordplay.
if you prefer to think it's merely a coincidence - as if it's farfetched that Anita's name
would be "hidden" in one of Keith's lyrics - that's okay with me, truly :E
Quote
with sssoul
thanks - i am cognizant of that usage as well, and should indeed have included it
in my one-post mini-lesson about count/noncount usage of the word love.
and i still maintain that on either side of the Atlantic, i need a love is not normal usage -
not that it's "impossible", but it is not the way anyone would *normally* say
"i need someone or something to love", or "i need someone to love me", or "i need to feel love, be in love, etc".
it is a noticeably peculiar way to phrase any of those things, in UK English as well as US English.
>> I would venture to suggest that "Anita love to keep me happy" really would play havoc ... <<
as i've already noted, i'm not saying it's normal syntax. i'm saying it's a play on words/sounds:
the songwriter chose to use a noticeably peculiar phrase, the first three syllables of which
sound (listen to it!) just like the name of his long-term partner, so it comes out to "Anita love"
and "i need a love" at the same time. i perceive that similarity in sound as deliberate wordplay.
if you prefer to think it's merely a coincidence - as if it's farfetched that Anita's name
would be "hidden" in one of Keith's lyrics - that's okay with me, truly :E