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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2018 11:59:49 GMT
I probably make grammar mistakes since English is not my first language (and I apologize for that) so maybe I shouldn't be the one posting here, but I'll say people writing "it's" when it should be "its" makes me cringe.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2018 12:19:42 GMT
I probably make grammar mistakes since English is not my first language (and I apologize for that) so maybe I shouldn't be the one posting here, but I'll say people writing "it's" when it should be "its" makes me cringe. And of course I made a mistake there lol. |
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Post by lynette on Apr 11, 2018 14:05:18 GMT
It feels like “gotten” is slowly creeping over this side of the pond too. Every time I hear someone use it who isn’t from USA/ Canada I cringe inside. Gotten is proper English only from the sixteenth century I think. Nice that people who use it are going back to olden times when they think they're speaking up to the minute. The New Americans took 'gotten' and we got...a lot of other stuff. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2018 14:09:58 GMT
My biggest English language gripe is . . . Americans.
Everything else I can just about take but what they've done to the language is, quite frankly, criminal.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2018 16:20:51 GMT
"Should of", "could of" and "would of" drive me insane Thank you for bringing this up again. I’m seeing it on a daily basis at the moment and it baffles me how this still continues to happen. I find this annoying because it's one of a class of basic errors where people hear a phrase and start repeating what they believe they heard without ever realising that the words they're saying make no sense. In a similar vein, today I came across "I'm struggling with my self of steam". It would be nice to think that they were indeed fighting some sort of doppelgänger formed of a union of fire and water elementals, but I suspect not. |
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Post by Tibidabo on Apr 11, 2018 16:41:59 GMT
Call centre speak - I will send it to yourself. Aggghhh!
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Post by showgirl on Apr 11, 2018 18:23:50 GMT
Yes, and the word I hear misused even more is "myself". People seem unaware of the way to test what they're about to say by replacing a word with another to see if it makes sense. Or maybe they simply have inadequate grammatical knowledge.
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Post by 49thand8th on Apr 11, 2018 21:20:37 GMT
I probably make grammar mistakes since English is not my first language (and I apologize for that) so maybe I shouldn't be the one posting here, but I'll say people writing "it's" when it should be "its" makes me cringe. As this is my line of work, I search through the entire page for both "its" and "it's" before I'm done. Everyone should try it! Oh, search for "you," too. It'll encompass all the wrong "your" vs "you're" uses, along with anytime you've omitted the "r" when you meant "your." Just make sure you notice it... |
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Post by mistressjojo on Apr 12, 2018 5:56:15 GMT
I've just read an article that mentioned the author's actions on 'numerous instants'.
Noodles?
Coffee?
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Post by Montmartre on Apr 12, 2018 10:55:51 GMT
Two of many niggles -
In answer to "How are you?" the reply now is always "I'm good". It used to be "I'm fine".
Instead of saying "pardon?", we nearly all say "sorry?"
I guess it is a generation thing. At least we are not speaking as in Shakespearean times!
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Post by dani on Apr 12, 2018 11:01:17 GMT
My biggest English language gripe is . . . Americans. Everything else I can just about take but what they've done to the language is, quite frankly, criminal. There are 325 million of them, compared with 65 million in the UK, and there are possibly 1 billion people worldwide who have English as their second language. It's not Britain's possession any more. |
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Post by hulmeman on Apr 13, 2018 8:39:38 GMT
Call centre speak - I will send it to yourself. Aggghhh! Oh Tibidabo, me too! Myself is also used in the same, incorrect manner. I may have already posted this, but I'll give it another airing - "happy belated birthday". AAARRRGGGGHHH! It is the greeting which is late not the birthday. Drives me daft it does. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2018 8:52:07 GMT
The difference between less and fewer... Even the BBC doesn't know the difference!  |
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Post by Tibidabo on Apr 13, 2018 9:17:48 GMT
The difference between less and fewer... Even the BBC doesn't know the difference! Don't they? 😜😜😜😜🤭 |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2018 9:58:42 GMT
The difference between less and fewer... Even the BBC doesn't know the difference! Don't they? 😜😜😜😜🤭 BBC= singular, so I assumed doesn't was correct...  (It's the people who work for them on TV and radio that don't...) |
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Post by Tibidabo on Apr 13, 2018 10:11:46 GMT
BBC= singular, so I assumed doesn't was correct.. Oh I wasn't correcting you! I was just forcing you to do some mental gymnastics. 🧐 Sorry. I'll stand in the corner and have a word with myself. 🙃 |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2018 10:18:09 GMT
BBC= singular, so I assumed doesn't was correct... (It's the people who work for them on TV and radio that don't...) This isn't a gripe about other people's use of English, but it causes me more anxiety than it should when I need to refer to a company and can't decide whether singular or plural feels better, especially when a singular they is thrown into the mix. I usually just fiddle with it until I stop wincing. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2018 10:29:14 GMT
BBC= singular, so I assumed doesn't was correct... (It's the people who work for them on TV and radio that don't...) This isn't a gripe about other people's use of English, but it causes me more anxiety than it should when I need to refer to a company and can't decide whether singular or plural feels better, especially when a singular they is thrown into the mix. I usually just fiddle with it until I stop wincing. Attaboy, Matthew!  |
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Post by sherriebythesea on Apr 13, 2018 21:10:10 GMT
My biggest English language gripe is . . . Americans. Everything else I can just about take but what they've done to the language is, quite frankly, criminal. Do do you mean American's from Canada, US, Mexico, Central America or South American? The America's is North and South America. This is one of my gripes. When people say American's when they really mean from the US. I don't think anyone else from the America's would appreciate being lumped in with what is happening in US now |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2018 10:30:44 GMT
Not gripes as such but having just returned from India, I noticed that some of the wording on signs wasn’t quite as we’d say... So on the lawns in New Delhi there’d be “Don’t pluck the flowers”. In laybys there’d be “No halting”, and by surly looking policemen with rifles, “No halting. No queries.” The one that amused me the most was this one which was by the metal detector and security guards at the entrance to one of the hotels:  |
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Post by bimse on Apr 15, 2018 14:44:43 GMT
Not gripes as such but having just returned from India, I noticed that some of the wording on signs wasn’t quite as we’d say... So on the lawns in New Delhi there’d be “Don’t pluck the flowers”. In laybys there’d be “No halting”, and by surly looking policemen with rifles, “No halting. No queries.” The one that amused me the most was this one which was by the metal detector and security guards at the entrance to one of the hotels: Such a polite notice , it would be rude not to comply ! I’m not long back from India myself , I was particularly impressed with the devices for searching under vehicles .... mirrors fastened to walking crutches . |
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Post by Tibidabo on Apr 16, 2018 20:07:27 GMT
I love Richard Ayoade. He's a super-intelligent ex-Cambridge Footlights president. I love his dry humour. Travel Man is hilarious.
But.
In today's episode after the adverts in his voice-over he said:-
"Welcome back to Funchal with Robert Webb and I."😲😲
AAAAAGGGGHHHHHHH!
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Post by sf on Apr 16, 2018 20:24:41 GMT
"Very unique", "quite unique". You can't qualify "unique", either something is or it isn't.
When I rule the universe - and the day will come - this will be a punishable offence. Probably with sharpened bamboo.
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Post by harrietcraig on Apr 16, 2018 20:51:57 GMT
"Very unique", "quite unique". You can't qualify "unique", either something is or it isn't. Similarly, television newscasters who introduce a story by saying, "And now here's the very latest on that four-alarm fire we told you about earlier". Either something is the latest or it isn't; trying to emphasize how up-to-date your news coverage is by calling it "the very latest" is just stupid. (This may just be a US thing.) |
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Post by stagebyte on Apr 17, 2018 0:30:05 GMT
Starting an explanation with ‘Basically...’.
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(It's the people who work for them on TV and radio that don't...)
