News:

In case of downtime/other tech emergencies, you can relatively quickly get in touch with Asmodean Prime by email.

Main Menu

What're your English bugbears?

Started by Siz, December 20, 2011, 02:18:07 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

joeactor

Did you ever raed the email aubot rrseecah form Cbaimgrde Usvirentiy aubot scarmelbd letetrs? Fncsiaitnag suftf! Aaplpntery, as long as you get the fsirt and last lterets ccreort, the rest of the wrod can be jmeubld, but stlil reldaabe...

Tank

Quote from: joeactor on January 07, 2012, 03:44:32 PM
Did you ever raed the email aubot rrseecah form Cbaimgrde Usvirentiy aubot scarmelbd letetrs? Fncsiaitnag suftf! Aaplpntery, as long as you get the fsirt and last lterets ccreort, the rest of the wrod can be jmeubld, but stlil reldaabe...
Extractry!
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

Buddy

Quote from: joeactor on January 07, 2012, 03:44:32 PM
Did you ever raed the email aubot rrseecah form Cbaimgrde Usvirentiy aubot scarmelbd letetrs? Fncsiaitnag suftf! Aaplpntery, as long as you get the fsirt and last lterets ccreort, the rest of the wrod can be jmeubld, but stlil reldaabe...

Didn't even realize it was scrambled until I put my contacts in. :D
Strange but not a stranger<br /><br />I love my car more than I love most people.

lomfs24

Quote from: DeterminedJuliet on January 07, 2012, 03:21:31 PM
Quote from: Budhorse4 on January 07, 2012, 07:48:14 AM
Quote from: lomfs24 on January 07, 2012, 07:36:18 AM
Some friends of mine started posting 143. Confused me so I had to ask. It was explained to me that it was an even more retarded way to say I love you. You see I has 1 letter love has 4 letters and you has 3. I think that if I am too much of a bother to spend a couple extra seconds to type I love you then don't bother saying it at all.

That is about the stupidest thing I've ever heard.  ::)


Did your friend just invent this?
Apparently not because my wife knew what they were talking about.

Ali

Quote from: lomfs24 on January 07, 2012, 09:16:26 PM
Quote from: DeterminedJuliet on January 07, 2012, 03:21:31 PM
Quote from: Budhorse4 on January 07, 2012, 07:48:14 AM
Quote from: lomfs24 on January 07, 2012, 07:36:18 AM
Some friends of mine started posting 143. Confused me so I had to ask. It was explained to me that it was an even more retarded way to say I love you. You see I has 1 letter love has 4 letters and you has 3. I think that if I am too much of a bother to spend a couple extra seconds to type I love you then don't bother saying it at all.

That is about the stupidest thing I've ever heard.  ::)


Did your friend just invent this?
Apparently not because my wife knew what they were talking about.

I seem to recall that is an old pager code (as in, if you wanted to page your girlfriend or boyfriend just to tell him/her that you love them.)  The only other one I remember is 911 (which meant IMPORTANT!  Call me back NOW!)

Am I dating myself to you young whippersnappers by admitting that I had a pager in high school?  It was purple and sparkly.

Dave

OK, being interested in language and how it is used I was looking for a suitable thread and found this from way-back, so I decided to bump it.

In an item on the BBC tge interviewee wittered on for a minute with badly constructed sentences and the said, "You know what I'm saying to you?"

My immediate answer was, "No." However the interviewer had to be nore circumspect and ask questions to unravel the intent.

I understand that language changes over time but the irrelevant, "You know . . .", " I'm just saying . . .", "So . . ." and other utterance still gets on my tits!
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

Arturo

The excessive conservatism Brits have over the language that not only they use.
It's Okay To Say You're Welcome
     Just let people be themselves.
     Arturo The1  リ壱

Recusant

Quote from: Arturo on June 01, 2018, 07:50:16 PM
The excessive conservatism Brits have over the language that not only they use.

I'd say that the British are at least as inventive with the language as anybody else who uses it. In fact, a respectable percentage of the differences between "American" and "British" are due to modifications British speakers have introduced over the years since Americans split from them, while Americans continue to use forms that have become archaic in Britain.
"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth."
— H. L. Mencken


Arturo

Quote from: Recusant on June 01, 2018, 10:24:15 PM
Quote from: Arturo on June 01, 2018, 07:50:16 PM
The excessive conservatism Brits have over the language that not only they use.

I'd say that the British are at least as inventive with the language as anybody else who uses it. In fact, a respectable percentage of the differences between "American" and "British" are due to modifications British speakers have introduced over the years since Americans split from them, while Americans continue to use forms that have become archaic in Britain.

So things like...I don't know, uh..."motherfucker", "fucking bitch", "shithead", all I can think of are swears at the moment. Some things I get when other people say them who are from the UK, but the context is sometimes lost so I go down a different road. My friend was half Irish and half British in high school so it's kind of with me because he lived across the street. But certain things I don't get. I think he would probably get it more than I would.
It's Okay To Say You're Welcome
     Just let people be themselves.
     Arturo The1  リ壱

Dave

Quote from: Recusant on June 01, 2018, 10:24:15 PM
Quote from: Arturo on June 01, 2018, 07:50:16 PM
The excessive conservatism Brits have over the language that not only they use.

I'd say that the British are at least as inventive with the language as anybody else who uses it. In fact, a respectable percentage of the differences between "American" and "British" are due to modifications British speakers have introduced over the years since Americans split from them, while Americans continue to use forms that have become archaic in Britain.

Yes, still some 17th century words, uses and pronounciations slive in America, especially in the deeper country accents. The movie industry, TV and the Internrt smears things and now I find myself using American words. But that's OK, I use French, German, Italian, Grerk, Indian, Arabic and other words as well quite happily. Though I reist things like, "one point twenty five" and the illogical mm/dd/yyyy system (though  yyyy/mm/dd has its uses).
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

Recusant

Quote from: Arturo on June 01, 2018, 11:27:55 PMSo things like...I don't know, uh..."motherfucker", "fucking bitch", "shithead", all I can think of are swears at the moment.

No. I'll give you one example, and provide a link that you may find instructive. In the US, "flapjack" is synonymous with "pancake." That was one of the original meanings of the word in Britain, centuries ago. However in modern British English, a "flapjack" is what Americans would call an "oat bar" or a "granola bar."

"The Survival of Archaic English in the American Dialect" | Out of This Century

Note that in the quote from Mencken's The American Language in the linked article, Mencken mentions "flapjack" as a word that has disappeared in Britain. It returned to British English around 1935 (years after the first edition of Mencken's work appeared), referring to something that really has little to do with its original meaning.
"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth."
— H. L. Mencken


Arturo

Interesting read. Most of those words I never hear used and ice-cream was the most surprising to me.
It's Okay To Say You're Welcome
     Just let people be themselves.
     Arturo The1  リ壱

Dave

An American doctor, during some experimental work I was involved in, told a nurse to, "Set it on that table", refering to an instrument, rather than "Put it on that table." I listened carefully to his English after that and asked him where he came from - New England. As I remrmber that is a hit-bed of such archaisms as "skillet" and "scallion", "frying pan" and "spring onion"  in modern English English. - though the latter is also the modern American "green onions" I think.

So, yes, Arturo, American English can be more "conservative" than modern English English. But, just as we acquired words from our invaders and colonies then American acquires them from First Nation languages and immigrants. Then, through language drift, generates its own usages and phrases - as did England from 1000 years ago to the current date. And is still doing so.

It's just that, in every shorter time scale, there will be those who bemoan those changes. George Bernard Shaw (an Irishman!) said, "The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language." Actually the Irish are well accomplished in using language, possibly due to story telling and verbsl history being used, rather than "fixed" textbooks, there for much longer than in England. Oh, and Shaw moved to London at age 10.
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74