Language desk
< June 12	<< May \| June \| Jul >>	Current desk >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

June 13[edit]

"I'll tell you for why..."[edit]

Is this alternative of "I'll tell you why" still in current modern use or is it wholly archaic? And is/was there any regional variation across the United Kingdom? Many thanks. 86.157.60.78 (talk) 19:55, 13 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Not unknown in London, but not from younger people I believe.

This forum thread has little information except: '"For why" appears in several places throughout the works of Shakespeare; "tell for why" in The Fifteen Comforts of Matrimony: Responses From Women (1706); and "I'll tell you for why" in Mark Twain's A Tramp Abroad (1880) to mention but a few'.

The quote that springs to my mind is from the Old 100th, a 1561 paraphrase of Psalm 100: "For why! the Lord our God is good; his mercy is forever sure". Alansplodge (talk) 21:25, 13 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Certainly still in use in both Cornwall and Sussex, and in my experience is used by young people (though perhaps to a lesser extent). I would associate it with more rural dialects in both areas. DuncanHill (talk) 17:48, 14 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

This Google Ngram for "tell you for why" in British English books has two peaks, one at the end of the 1930s and the other at the end of the 1950s. Alansplodge (talk) 18:29, 14 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Never seen a written example until now. Certainly in spoken use in South Wales in the last 20 years, with the "for" as an intensifier, i.e. "the reason I'm going to give you is very important", "it's not just a whim", etc. Martinevans123 (talk) 20:40, 15 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

BTW, the "for" in the phrase "for why" seems to stem from the same "for" in the phrase "for what reason", meaning "why". Umzu (talk) 11:35, 20 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]