Here’s your shot!

Another kind of beneficial construction (see our earlier post on personal datives) that is common in Shaetlan as with the existential here’s as in Here’s dee dy sweetie (‘Here’s your sweetie’) or Here’s you your poster (‘Here’s your poster’). This beneficial construction with a dative or indirect object is not used in Standard English: something like “Here’s your poster for you” sounds odd or contrived. It is mostly used in direct addresses, where the recipient or the one benefitting is being addressed directly. However, in some areas the construction can be used to refer to a third person, as in Here’s Jak his bone (‘Here’s Jak’s bone’) or Here’s dem dir tabnabs (‘Here’s their snacks’). Again, something like *“Here’s Jak’s bone for him” or *“Here’s their snacks for them” doesn’t work in Standard English.

This construction is not Shetland specific, but can be found in a number of non-standard English and Scots varieties. It seems particularly common in Southern US Englishes, including in Cajun country.

PS: To use here’s with plural subjects, as in Here’s dem dir tabnabs ‘Here’s their snacks’ is common in Standard English too, but in Standard English they tend to only be found in conversation and in fictional dialogue rather than in formal written language.