Sporadic dropping of object in American English

[pronker]

"Does the sandwich come with?" [overheard at deli, asking does a reuben include sides of pickles or kraut, something of that nature without following 'with' by 'it/them'.I've noticed within the past three years a language change and perhaps others here have, too. Most often, it's noticeable about food as in the above example. A person keeps

Comments

[steepholm]

A UK example is "cuppa", as in "Do you fancy a cuppa?", where "cuppa" is short for "cup of tea".

[pronker]

Good example!

[piperki]

This construction is common in the upper Midwest US.

[pronker]

Completely fascinating study, thank you so much.

[come_to_think]

I believe this idiom is not new in some US (Middle Western) dialects. It is a natural extension of the fact that many prepositions can also be adverbs (in, out, around, about, across, etc.). It is not confined to food; one may hear "Do you want to come with?" where most people would say "along".

[pronker]

"Come with" v. "come along, or come along with" would be the choices ... I would say "come along." Although my family comes from eastern Nebraska, I never lived there full time, and the aforementioned study linked by Piperki is absorbing in the references to German, Swedish and Norwegian roots of the phenomenon.

[sollersuk]

North West England: I lived in this area for 15 years, and "are you coming with?" was always common, to the extent that I would see it as dialect rather than a recent phenomenon.

[pronker]

More data, thank you.

[beesandbrews]

This useage is ancient, going back (on television) to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

[pronker]

Good to know. I'm not a huge TV watcher and didn't watch that program. The original movie was fun, though. :D

[bastette_joyce]

Buffy is... ancient? Then what am I?? :) (I was in my 40s when that show was on!)

[beesandbrews]

In internet years it is. If dog years ars roughly 1 people year to 7 dog, I reckon 1 real year equals at least 10 or maybe even 15 years in internet.