| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Deconstructor
Joined: 30 Dec 2003
Posts: 775
Location: Montreal
|
 Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2005 7:27 pm Post subject: |
 |
|
Methinks yall forget that language is alive, dynamic and in constant cycle of change. That's what makes it beautiful. Listen to hip hop for brand new English. Ya dig, dawg?!
Take any old text, say, Shakespeare and see how different English was then.
There is no need to be afraid of this kind of change. The alternative is the boredom of the same old, same old.
yobecoona! |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Stephen Jones
Joined: 21 Feb 2003
Posts: 4124
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2005 8:51 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| May I suggest Senor that you henceforth only ever speak, read or communicate in Etruscan? Nobody has yet managed to decipher it so you can be assured that the only vernacular that will irritate you will be your own. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Aramas
Joined: 13 Feb 2004
Posts: 874
Location: Slightly left of Centre
|
| Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2005 4:25 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Guy Courchesne wrote: |
| I'm sure you'll get a number of complaints from the Brits cruising the forum on maths and queue. |
Don't you mean every English speaking country in the world apart from the US?
Personallly, I'll use American dialect (like simplified spelling) when ice hockey becomes the national sport in hell - oh wait! It already is...oops, that's Canada 
I'm of the opinion that Yanks should be neither seen nor heard. I suppose that makes me an optimist  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Gordon
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 5309
Location: Japan
|
| Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2005 8:02 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Aramas wrote: |
| Guy Courchesne wrote: |
| I'm sure you'll get a number of complaints from the Brits cruising the forum on maths and queue. |
Don't you mean every English speaking country in the world apart from the US?
|
No respectable Cdn would says maths or queue. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
vre
Joined: 17 Mar 2004
Posts: 371
|
| Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2005 8:41 am Post subject: |
|
|
With a nick like 'boogie woogie' I wouldn't be complaining if I were you  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Yu
Joined: 06 Mar 2003
Posts: 1219
Location: Shanghai
|
| Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2005 12:43 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Some of these objections seem to be common usage to me. Others British....
The dislike for some of the common usage ones may just be a sign you are getting older and English is a constantly evolving langage. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Mouse
Joined: 24 Dec 2003
Posts: 208
|
| Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2005 1:16 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Deconstructor wrote: |
| Take any old text, say, Shakespeare and see how different English was then. |
Absolutely. Or better yet, take one from a few decades before Shakespeare, because like him or loathe him, in linguistic terms the bard was an incredible innovator.
Is the Senor trolling? (Is it ok to say 'trolling'? Is it ok to say 'ok'?) |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Deconstructor
Joined: 30 Dec 2003
Posts: 775
Location: Montreal
|
| Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2005 6:48 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
| MouseIs the Senor trolling? (Is it ok to say 'trolling'? Is it ok to say 'ok'?) |
Stop destroying the English language for God's sake  Have you no shame?! Of course it's ok to say ok if that's ok with you. Ok?! Ok! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Guy Courchesne
Joined: 10 Mar 2003
Posts: 9650
Location: Mexico City
|
| Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2005 10:45 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Better yet...try making the accompanying hand gesture for OK. Do it in Latin America. Prepare to be laughed at. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
shmooj
Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1758
Location: Seoul, ROK
|
| Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 2:25 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Deconstructor wrote: |
| for God's sake |
since when where you on His side... despite Him being on yours heh heh |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Deconstructor
Joined: 30 Dec 2003
Posts: 775
Location: Montreal
|
| Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 5:07 am Post subject: |
|
|
| shmooj wrote: |
| Deconstructor wrote: |
| for God's sake |
since when where you on His side... despite Him being on yours heh heh |
shmooj, what the HELL are you talking about?! You're not smoking some bad weed, are ya? But it's good to know that you know what God is thinking and especially about me. When God answers, just make sure it's actually Him and not the weed. Ok? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Spinoza
Joined: 17 Oct 2004
Posts: 194
Location: Saudi Arabia
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2005 1:48 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
| The following terminology drives me crazy. |
Literally? Jeez, settle down sir.
If you want to have a moan about annoying English, at least pick something genuinely irritating like the unnecessary use of rising intonation? You know, making absolutely everything sound like a question? Even when it's not?
Whenever I hear this, I'm just, like, "ugh!"?
| Quote: |
7.) Queue. The word is called line.
|
Not exactly synonymous though, are they?
What if the 'line' of people isn't linear? Is a non-linear crowd of people awaiting something still a line? Imagine a bottleneck entrance to a stadium or concert hall, a tiny entrance with hoards of people in front all forming a semi-circle shape. What about a crowded bar surrounded by people all waiting to be served? Seems daft to call it a line when it isn't actually a line and is actually something more disorganised. It can still easily be a 'queue' though and we avoid this difficulty by its use.
Bloke walks up to waiter: "Hi, I'd like a table for two please"
Waiter: "That's fine, sir, but I'm afraid there's a queue"
Bloke: "Is there? Where?"
Waiter: "I don't mean literally a queue of people all standing in a line, you twit! They're all sat at the tables in the bar having a drink before their tables become available. But it's still a queue, albeit in a more abstract way."
Bloke: "Oh I see."
Now exchange 'queue' for 'line' and it simply doesn't work. Queue is a more general concept denoting people waiting. A line is a line.
The proposition "the word [queue] is called line" is a nonsense as well. Surely what you mean to say is that the state of affairs referred to by 'queue' is called a line - not the word itself!
| Quote: |
| 13.) "Maths" instead of Mathmatics. Maths is incorrect because Math is an uncountable noun. |
Mathmatics is incorrect as well. It has an 'e' in it. Presumably you object to the use of an 'e' in 'mathematics'? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Guy Courchesne
Joined: 10 Mar 2003
Posts: 9650
Location: Mexico City
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2005 2:06 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
If you want to have a moan about annoying English, at least pick something genuinely irritating like the unnecessary use of rising intonation? You know, making absolutely everything sound like a question? Even when it's not?
Whenever I hear this, I'm just, like, "ugh!"? |
Round here, we call that US Teenager Mall English.
| Quote: |
| Now exchange 'queue' for 'line' and it simply doesn't work. Queue is a more general concept denoting people waiting. A line is a line. |
I've always prefered the Spanish 'cola' which translates as tail, line, or queue. It's much more fun to make puns with. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
zhamr
Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 128
Location: Darwin, Australia
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2005 8:27 am Post subject: wrong forum? Try French |
|
|
Might I suggest that the OP in this thread, having such a prescriptive, normative spirit, would be more in character on a website dealing with the purity of the French language...
Surely the constantly evolving, syncretic nature of English, with its great tolerance of regional variation is one of its enduring strengths?
As an Australian, I am in the happy position of being fluent in a number of forms of English; I may choose to express myself in the form of English most commonly used in my country of birth, but I am sufficiently well educated and linguistically broad-minded to cope with English of any colour/color... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Starglass1
Joined: 14 Feb 2005
Posts: 9
Location: The Amalfi Coast
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2005 12:06 pm Post subject: |
|
|
My pet peeve is the word �like� when it�s interjected into every sentence. It�s a virus which has spread from the U.S.A. to Britain. Does anyone know where it has its origins? Perhaps the infamous �Valley�?
I was sitting on a commuter train leaving Rome listening to a group of Americans who seemed entirely obliviously to the fact that 1 in 10 of their words was �like�. Yes I counted, nothing else to do on those long rides home.
Ciao! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
