Why do some people say:
You better save some of them kids for jack.
While others say:
You better save some of the kids for jack.
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anongoodnurse
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HoseinHm
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Your title is not very informative, so you'll probably be ignored by many potential answerers. Also, what's urgent about it? – Kevin Workman May 08 '14 at 17:14
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3It's a different dialect of English, that's all. Like Egyptian Arabic versus Morroccan Arabic, only not nearly as different. – John Lawler May 08 '14 at 17:14
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1You seem to be misinformed: "them kids" in the non-standard dialects I am aware of corresponds to "those kids" in standard English, and not "the kids". – Peter Shor May 08 '14 at 17:33
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See Use of “them” as an article, not a pronoun and “Them” as a plural definite article. – choster May 08 '14 at 18:23
1 Answers
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Your question seems to inquire about a specific non-standard use of English while ignoring others. (This, to me, raises more questions than you actually asked.)
If you are asking why some people say them kids, it's for the same reason people use any other non-standard word or phrase, and there's no single answer to that question. They may have heard it growing up; they may be imitating someone else; they may be using it for effect; they may be rebelling against their English teacher; they may not have been paying attention in class when the determiners these/those/them were being covered; who can answer that precisely?
Why do you ignore the poor use of you better? It, too, is non-standard. The correct use is
You had better... (or You'd better)
Who is jack? Why had we better save some children but not all for him? Why isn't his name capitalized? Is it not a person?
What is jack going to do with these children, and should we be more concerned with this than actual slang word usage?
are you speaking of goat kids (in which case, saving kids for jack may be necessary) or human children?
As you see, I am quite confused by your question. I am a native speaker of AmE.
Please help me. As I am very concerned about the fate of these children, this is urgent.
anongoodnurse
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