There's funny things people are saying!

English is shifting under our noses! Nobody notices ... Now that I've told you, perhaps you can find other examples. Cargo handlers, bus drivers, air line pilots, scientists, radio talk show hosts, and television newscasters all make this "mistake". At what point will it no longer be a mistake? Have the use of "is" already shifted irretrievably?

Specific examples:

• "Here's your latest budget cuts." Dilbert Cartoon, 95/06/05
• "There's other things on it", NPR CarTalk, 1995 June 10.
• "Let's say there's two women on welfare ..." Lee Mirabal (leem@interaccess.com) on her radio show.
• "What's the absolute numbers like?" Well known scientist, 1995 March 23.
• `"Here, there's things living in the water!" a trooper shouted one morning.' Orion Among the Stars, Ben Bova, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, May 1995, page 57.
• "There's millions of 'em!" ... "There's too many of 'em!" ... "There's more of 'em!" Orion Among the Stars, Ben Bova, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, July 1995, page 272.
• "I still go and hang out around it, because there's lots of bushes nearby, and you can sit in the lower branches, or on the ground around it, and nobody will see you." A Portrait of My Grandfather, Doug Larsen, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, July 1995, page 204.
• "Isabel look, there's dolphins!" Public TV
• "There is two sides to this, and both have their points" 1995 July 11, 2:50pm, Rush Limbaugh on his radio show.
• 1996 June "How is your children doing?" - medical doctor on PBS.
  By June of 1996, the number of cases has become so prevalent that the change is almost complete.
• Can't pass this one up: "There are a lot of reasons to switch from AOL to MSN. Here's 50 more" - full page advertisement (!) by Microsoft in U.S. News and World Report, April 22, 2002, p.31.

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