Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: "the wife"

Dire "the wife" per "mia moglie" è colloquiale?
-- 
Enrico C
...still legal tender...

Yes....and sort of outdated too.  You won't find any baby boomers or
anyone younger using it, at least not in California.  I'm not sure
about other parts of the States or other English Speaking countries.
bye
ari

> Dire "the wife" per "mia moglie" è colloquiale?
Sì ma passato di moda. 

 anyone younger using it, at least not in California.  
So what do you say in California?
Tabhall

*my* wife, not *the wife*.
ari

 *my* wife, not *the wife*.
I guess the question was actualy about the "the". "My wife" is just the 
normal way to say it.
-- 
Laz - [
http://www.dimensionedelta.net
]
"Murderess." "Primitive totalitarian." "Three times over - for what 
right has /she/ to say that /we/ can’t exist [...]. Crypto-criminal 
mind!" 

 I guess the question was actualy about the "the".
Exactly.  It was about the use of the definite article in place of the
possessive adjective.
Ari

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Is "the wife" a little bit derogative--that is: did it denote
detachment?--or was it just a plain way of referring to one's wife?
Bye, FB
-- 
No point in crying over spilt husband.
(The Cheap Detective)

 detachment?--or was it just a plain way of referring to one's wife?
In effetti anche in italiano si dice a volte, colloquialmente, "la moglie"
(al posto di "mia moglie" o "tua moglie").
"Domani vado allo stadio a vedere Roma-Lazio."
"Che ne pensa la moglie?"
-- 
The Enrico C
...still legal tender...

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I'd only say it to refer to a third person's wife:
Carlo: Bruno torna sempre tardi dal lavoro.
Giorgio: Che ne pensa la moglie? (or indeed "sua moglie")
Isn't referring to one's wife as "la moglie" like saying "that woman I live
with"?
Bye, FB
-- 
Mrs. Palmer, in her way, was equally angry. 'She was determined to drop his
acquaintance immediately, and she was very thankful that she had never been
acquainted with him at all'. (Jane Austen)


In italiano non l'ho mai sentito usato al posto di "mia moglie" (mi pare). 
Ma č abbastanza usato per indicare la moglie di una terza persona non 
presente nella discussione.
In inglese l'ho visto una volta su libro che riportava esperienze di alcune 
persone con la disoccupazione (di quello che facevano durante la giornata 
per mantenersi attivi, un uomo raccontava che "the wife" usciva alle 8 per 
andare al lavoro eccetera). Anche a me era sembrato un po' strano, potrebbe 
essere piů utilizzato dalla "working class" o da persone non piů giovani?

 with"?
Yep! A bit derogaty, in a way...
-- 


A me sembra una cosa o "working class" o dello Yorkshire.

No, it's not at all derogatory.  It's just outdated.  You will still
hear it from men in their sixties or seventies, but not from younger
people or even people in their fifties, at least not where I am.  As I
have often remarked, I can't speak for other parts of the US.  
bye
ari


The Irish (and perhaps the Scots)  have a way of using the third
person or reflexives in this manner, which is really a formal or
polite usage, and is not intended to be at all derogatory.
I often heard this usage from my parents and their Irish families and
friends.
"Is himself at home?" (referring to the man of fhe house).
"Is the wife at home?", or "Is herself at home", would be used in a
similar context. "The wife" or "herself" instead of "your wife" is
almost a title.
"One of the conspicuous syntactic features of Hiberno-English is the
liberal use of 'unbound reflexives' as in 'Is herself at home?'...."
http://www.uni-potsdam.de/u/CE/col4/abstracts.html
Joe from Massachusetts