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I've seen a lot of times the pronoun them used like an article. For example, in the title of the Delta Rhythm Boys Them bones, or in the first sentence of "Money for nothing":

Now look at them yo-yo's, that's the way you do it.

I know that it's not "proper English" (i.e., not something you'll use in a serious writing), but I'd like to know when it's commonly used, and why. Is there any difference between using it and using the?

herisson
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rsuarez
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  • Save them britches! – Frantisek Jun 17 '11 at 15:21
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    Obviously there will be some benighted souls who don't even realise that using "them" in this way is non-standard/grammatically incorrect. Most of us know this perfectly well, and many of us deliberately say it sometimes in informal contexts largely for the effect. – FumbleFingers Jun 17 '11 at 18:00

4 Answers4

8

It's a non-standard
(although perfectly valid within the context of a valid personal and location based free choice in the subset of English which one chooses to consider valid within one's own frame of reference)
use of 'those' - I think it's also an American dialect/regional variation

mgb
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  • Them Suth'ners sure do talk funny! – MT_Head Jun 17 '11 at 16:15
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    Of note, those isn't an article. It is a pronoun. "Them" is also used as "them's the breaks, kid" which also points toward those. +1 – MrHen Jun 17 '11 at 18:01
  • @MT_Head: Dat'd be Dem Suth'ners, I think (though if we had them in the UK they'd probably be Suvnas). – FumbleFingers Jun 17 '11 at 18:03
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    @MrHen: If you want to get really technical, those is a demonstrative (while the is an article), and it can be used as a determiner or a pronoun — in the case of this question, we'd be comparing the determiner use of those. – Kosmonaut Jun 17 '11 at 19:59
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    I have to say I don't love the characterization of them as a "misuse" of another determiner, because it carries the implication that the person does it by accident or because they don't know better. It's a nonstandard use to be sure, and it is something to be avoided if one wishes to use Standard English, but I don't think its use is inappropriate per se within those dialects/registers where we see it. – Kosmonaut Jun 17 '11 at 20:03
  • @Kosmo, Ah thank you. Good points in both comments. – MrHen Jun 17 '11 at 20:33
  • A famous and cherished example of the non-standard determiner usage in lyrics: Dem bones, dem bones, dem dryyy bones .... – Edwin Ashworth Nov 10 '20 at 14:45
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In African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) them often replaces those, or less often, the article the. Due to hip-hop culture having developed with heavy African-American influence, rap lyrics are often in AAVE.

Although possibly unrelated, them is also used in this way in Appalachian English.

RegDwigнt
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rintaun
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To me it would seem to be a form of vulgar argot of the language, much as the use of y'all is seen to be by many. These phrases certainly won't be adopted into standard English via anything less than overwhelming acceptance. But we understand the meaning of the term they used as an article much as we understand the use of "y'all come back now, y'hear" as a reasonable phrase. We just assume that its non-standard, or, less flatteringly, gutter-speak (apologies to Sting and Dire Straits).

MetaEd
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MydKnight
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The answers so far attribute this to the Southern US. But I don't think this is an innovation in English grammar that came from there. Part of this is because it is also used in dialectical speech in the UK and Ireland. But the other reason is that it seems early modern English would often use "them" where we would now use "those".

For example, the 1662 Book of Common Prayer has

As we forgive them that trespass against us.

The King James version has, in Genesis 12:3:

And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

(note that they also did not write "he who curseth" either, as certain prescriptive grammarians might demand)

Shakespeare's Henry IV part I has Falstaff saying:

A plague upon such backing! Give me them that will face me.

The easiest way to find these examples is to search for "them that" (though it is not foolproof, as it can occur in present-day English in phrases with reported speech, like "Tell them that I am here"). However, I have not been able to find any examples without the "that" yet (e.g. "them apples", "them people", "them bones"). It is possible that the standard English of that era only used "them" as a demonstrative when followed by "that" (maybe someone else who knows the history of English better can answer).

However, the other answers are right on one thing. It is no longer part of standard English.

Robert Furber
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  • This isn't the determiner usage. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 10 '20 at 14:43
  • @EdwinAshworth Perhaps my argument was too indirect, but I did not want to lengthen an answer that was already too long. These were not intended to be examples of the determiner usage of "them", but rather examples where the existence of the determiner usage has changed what is now "prescriptively" considered correct (for example, the 1928 Book of Common Prayer has "As we forgive those who trespass against us" instead of "them that" from the 1662 version). – Robert Furber Nov 14 '20 at 20:48
  • But the very title is 'Use of “them” as an article, not a pronoun' [emphasis mine, and 'article' should be 'determiner' of course]. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 15 '20 at 14:48