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In the chorus of the song "Gone Country" by Alan Jackson, there is this sentence:

She/He's gone country, look at them boots

How come them is used instead of their? I am not a native English speaker so I am interested in knowing about this peculiar (at least to me) word choice.

This existing thread would tend to indicate that them can be used for that, but look at that boots don't really make sense?

Community
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Antoine
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2 Answers2

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In some English dialects, but not any Standard Englishes as far as I know, them is used where standard English uses those.

Edited for clarity: this is just a lexical oddity of those dialects. It is not part of a paradigm, so it does not mean that they can be used in a similar way, or the singular it: just the word them.

Colin Fine
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I agree with Marv Mills' comment.

'Them' is a dialect alternative to 'those'.

Note that 'them' is plural here because the person has two boots. Another example: "Look at them trees over there." This means "Look at those trees over there"

chasly - supports Monica
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  • So what does it mean in "Look at those them trees over there?" – Araucaria - Him Sep 15 '15 at 11:24
  • @Araucaria That sentence is not grammatically correct. It has no meaning. – Marv Mills Sep 15 '15 at 11:25
  • @Araucaria - I don't understand your question. I didn't type the collocation 'those them' in my answer. – chasly - supports Monica Sep 15 '15 at 11:25
  • @chaslyfromUK I'm asking because, although I completely agree that them is used similarly to those in dialects that use it as a determiner like this, the collocation those them also occurs in some of those dialects. So that raises the question of whether them means exactly the same thing as those. Of, course it still could, but it might suggest that it carries some other kind of meaning too. – Araucaria - Him Sep 15 '15 at 11:28
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    I have never read or heard, 'those them' (in this sense). Could you give an example please? Preferably a link to such an example on the internet. Thanks. – chasly - supports Monica Sep 15 '15 at 11:30
  • One from the web "kudos to the dude who sold those them Aug 7 puts, they ain't worth nothing now-well .02cents."here – Araucaria - Him Sep 15 '15 at 11:42
  • "Those them types that f*** with me" ---> Those are them types that f*** with me". The verb is omitted. – chasly - supports Monica Sep 15 '15 at 11:43
  • @chaslyfromUK "Well actually it is those them there smart aleck's who have read the small print, know the small print and use the small print ..." here – Araucaria - Him Sep 15 '15 at 11:46
  • @Araucaria - Hmm... You seem to have found some recent slang. I've never encountered it before. I understand what's happening but I think it would need a separate question with a separate answer to explain fully. It's a different meme from the one asked about in this question. – chasly - supports Monica Sep 15 '15 at 11:53