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shenyanggerry
Joined: 02 Nov 2003
Posts: 619
Location: Canada
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 Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2005 6:43 pm Post subject: |
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| "Cool" is just as annoying as "like" when used at least once in every sentence. |
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stillnosheep
Joined: 01 Mar 2004
Posts: 2068
Location: eslcafe
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| Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 2:01 am Post subject: |
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| Like it is so not! |
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T-Bone
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 33
Location: Phnom Penh
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| Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 7:51 pm Post subject: |
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"Well" and "like" used in sentences like these are just mental place holders while one thinks of the words to articulate the thought they are trying to express.
But yes, they can be irritating.
One more for the list: opening a sentence with a conjunction, like in the above sentence. 
I think perhaps only English teachers (and a few others) have these kind of conversations. Most simply do not care. Besides, language evolves continually-- especially the truncations like "the States" for the more unwieldly "the United States of America" and "carbs" for "carbohydrates."
Those of you who have studied linguistics will be aware of the debate between "descriptive", where we describe language, and "prescriptive", where we dictate how it should be. The latter is sooo Samuel Johnson (author of the first English dictionary in 1713).
However, as ESL teachers, we do need to be a bit more proscriptive than other linguists, particularly when students make those quirky non-native utterances.
Dude. |
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Spinoza
Joined: 17 Oct 2004
Posts: 194
Location: Saudi Arabia
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| Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 8:39 pm Post subject: |
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| I think it was in the mid-18th Century when Johnson wrote the Dictionary, T-Bone. He was actually only born in 1709. Sorry to be picky - I'm rather bored today. |
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T-Bone
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 33
Location: Phnom Penh
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| Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 8:41 pm Post subject: |
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| My apologies, Spinoza. I looked it up. It was published in 1755. |
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cujobytes
Joined: 14 May 2004
Posts: 1031
Location: Zhuhai, (Sunny South) China.
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| Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 6:08 am Post subject: > |
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What the hell is 'Lusicious'
And maybe it just sounds like 'maths' when in fact it's 'math's'
And what's with those lazy americans leaving the u out of words like colour and harbour?
that's like, just so, well,you know, like, lazy,.You know. |
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donfan
Joined: 31 Aug 2003
Posts: 217
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| Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2005 9:56 pm Post subject: Re: English venacular that drives me mad. |
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This from someone who calls himself senor boogie woogie? 
If Maths is uncountable surely it would be Mathematic, not Mathematics?
Sorry mate - queue is an English word. There is a reason the language is called English and not American. BECAUSE IT COMES FROM ENGLAND.
It's about time some Americans got over their sense of self-importance.+ |
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Stephen Jones
Joined: 21 Feb 2003
Posts: 4124
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| Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 8:50 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| f Maths is uncountable surely it would be Mathematic, not Mathematics? |
I fail to see the logic here.
Maths is uncountable. You don't talk about two maths and three maths. |
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Kurochan
Joined: 01 Mar 2003
Posts: 944
Location: China
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| Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 9:07 pm Post subject: Not spoken, but ... |
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| This isn't spoken English, but I really hate it when people write "U" instead of "you" in e-mail messages. It's like getting mail from Prince (the singer, not Charles)! |
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donfan
Joined: 31 Aug 2003
Posts: 217
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| Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 9:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Stephen Jones wrote: |
| Quote: |
| f Maths is uncountable surely it would be Mathematic, not Mathematics? |
I fail to see the logic here.
Maths is uncountable. You don't talk about two maths and three maths. |
Then tell me why it is called mathematics and not mathematic. |
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T-Bone
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 33
Location: Phnom Penh
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| Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2005 10:16 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
And what's with those lazy americans leaving the u out of words like colour and harbour?
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It's because Noah Webster, when writing his American dictionary, wanted to make the American branch more distinctive. And simplified. You don't pronounce the "u", do you? It's not lazy. It's logical. Sheesh. |
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Aramas
Joined: 13 Feb 2004
Posts: 874
Location: Slightly left of Centre
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| Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 7:23 am Post subject: |
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| T-Bone wrote: |
| Quote: |
And what's with those lazy americans leaving the u out of words like colour and harbour?
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It's because Noah Webster, when writing his American dictionary, wanted to make the American branch more distinctive. And simplified. You don't pronounce the "u", do you? It's not lazy. It's logical. Sheesh. |
Of korse, in the US, 'color' is prononced 'coe-lorr' - or at leest, for the sake ov konsistensy, I asyoom that it must be. Aw perhaps they prononce 'colon' az 'cullan'?
Coz lyk u no it's so not cool to lyk hav lyk an irritabl cullan and stuff, u no? Izzat lodjikl aw wot?
I'm sure Hitler thought that annexing Poland was extremely 'logical'. The concept of 'logic' has suffered a similarly Orwellian fate to that of concepts such as 'freedom', 'liberty', etc. - ie the speaker or author is taking the postion that whatever it is that they happen to want to believe is, by definition, correct. Also by definition, anyone that disagrees with them is wrong. |
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Cardinal Synn
Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 586
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| Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 1:08 pm Post subject: |
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| donfan wrote: |
| Stephen Jones wrote: |
| Quote: |
| f Maths is uncountable surely it would be Mathematic, not Mathematics? |
I fail to see the logic here.
Maths is uncountable. You don't talk about two maths and three maths. |
Then tell me why it is called mathematics and not mathematic. |
WTF?!!? |
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dyak
Joined: 25 Jun 2003
Posts: 630
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| Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 1:57 pm Post subject: |
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What do they do to people on those MA Linguistics courses?
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sigmoid
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 1276
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| Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2005 3:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Sorry mate - queue is an English word. |
Sorry, but queue is a French word.
from yourdictionary.com:
[French, from Old French cue, tail, from Latin cauda, coda.]
Word History: When the British stand in queues (as they have been doing at least since 1837, when this meaning of the word is first recorded in English), they may not realize they form a tail. The French word queue from which the English word is borrowed is a descendant of Latin coda, meaning "tail." French queue appeared in 1748 in English, referring to a plait of hair hanging down the back of the neck. By 1802 wearing a queue was a regulation in the British army, but by the mid-19th century queues had disappeared along with cocked hats. Latin coda is also the source of Italian coda, which was adopted into English as a musical term (like so many other English musical terms that come from Italian). A coda is thus literally the "tail end" of a movement or composition.
| Quote: |
And what's with those lazy americans leaving the u out of words like colour and harbour?
that's like, just so, well,you know, like, lazy,.You know. |
Words like color and harbor don't rhyme with words like hour, dour, sour or words like pour, four, tour...
| Quote: |
| 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. |
I have a big problem listening to these people too. It sounds really stupid. |
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