Job Discussion Forums

MELEE · Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 7:48 pm Post subject: VENT!

Okay,

This is just a vent, over the weekend I saw these three signs and this is the safest place for me to say AHHHHHHHHHH! Where did these people go to school? Mad

Of course I know the answer to that, and I know its a different country and people have a very different educational background that I do, so please, let's just let this be healthy venting, feel free to add your here, and save any comments about racism or supremacy for some other forum.

Se vende este "Lote" 200 metros cuadrados
Se vende "pozole" los domingos
"Tamales" Do�a Trini

At least the first to didn't put bende!
I know that the writers are trying to highlight the word they put in quotes, not use it in the way we English speakers would, but it certainly doesn't make me what to pay money for that "pozole" if you know what I mean!

Ms. Atondo · Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 8:34 pm Post subject:

You just noticed this now!!! It was a major pet peeve (and still is no matter where I am). I hate the double quotes especially when they are used around a name or the verb. It just seems shaddy to me. Whenever I see a store having a "sale" I just want to go in and ask them they are really having a sale or just pretending. I don't think anyone would get the joke though.

M@tt · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 473 Location: here and there

this must be a cultural thing. several mexicans have asked me to explain "air quotes".

my mom does the same thing when she writes me letters but i'm too polite to correct her. instead, my sister and i make jokes about it in private.

the v/b thing is chronic. i can't believe it but i spell better than most of the mexicans i know, just because i'm so aware of the difference between those two letters.

grahamcito · Joined: 11 Sep 2004 Posts: 90 Location: Guadalajara

Yes, it may be a cultural thing in Mexico. And it's definitely a cultural thing in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, etc, etc ...

Don't be too harsh on Mexicans, there are more than enough people who make the same error in English-speaking countries with supposedly higher standards of education.

A couple of weeks ago, I had to explain the difference between inverted commas and quotation marks to an Ivy League postgrad. What brilliant creatures we teachers are...

carolynne · Joined: 24 Sep 2005 Posts: 80 Location: Spain

YES! The amount of malapropisms floating around this esl cafe is leading me to dispair... Speeling eroors are one thing but a complete misunderstanding of idioms etc is another... I suppose the problem needs to be addressed at brass roots!?!?!?!?! Laughing

(40% lol, 60% shock)

Seriously though, with so many 2nd language speakers and poor 1st language speakers I am concerned that soon the language we know and love will become, well, ten or more rubbish/nonsense dialects Crying or Very sad

. (see flags flying at half mask.)
Anyway, I better stop writing before I go off on a tandem... Shocked

carolynne · Joined: 24 Sep 2005 Posts: 80 Location: Spain

Oh, and Arabs wear turbines on their heads Laughing

MO39 · Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2006 4:28 am Post subject:

Grahamcito, what is an inverted comma? I thought I was familiar with most commonly-used punctuation marks (at least as used in the US), but this one has me stumped.

M@tt · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 473 Location: here and there

i don't know the difference either. i don't think it gets taught in the US, though i could be wrong.
quotation marks in french are pointy brackets. never got used to <<that>>

lozwich · Joined: 25 May 2003 Posts: 1536

'Inverted commas'
"quotation marks"

When I was a kid in sunny Australia, I remember being told to put an inverted comma to take the place of missing letters in contractions.

Have a good day!
Lozwich.

grahamcito · Joined: 11 Sep 2004 Posts: 90 Location: Guadalajara

This is how I was taught it back in England:

Quotation marks ("...") identify quoted speech.

Inverted commas ('...') identify words with a separate context to that of the rest of sentence - but didn't come out of anyone's mouth.

Apostrophes (') represent an elided letter (or letters) in a contraction.

Does this ring true with anyone else? Or have I too been getting it wrong all these years?

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

Ben Round de Bloc · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1946

I just looked through part of my collection of paperback novels and noticed that some that were published in the UK use inverted commas and quotation marks in a way opposite from those published in the USA.

USA: John said, "When Mary whispered, 'I want to leave now,' I was ready to go with her."

UK: John said, 'When Mary whispered, "I want to leave now," I was ready to go with her.'

I taught high school English/language arts in the States for nearly 20 years, and I'd never heard of the terms inverted comma and full stop (period) until I moved to Mexico and taught in an EFL program that used British textbooks.

grahamcito · Joined: 11 Sep 2004 Posts: 90 Location: Guadalajara

Ben Round de Bloc · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1946

I think it's interesting the way the apostrophe to show possession has sort of worked its way into Spanish. There's a somewhat famous -- or infamous, depending on one's point of view -- bar downtown called Jorge's. There's also a little store called Tienda Do�a Charey's. Yet, students are so hesitant to use possessive forms that require an apostrophy in English and prefer to do a direct translation: the house of my brother instead of my brother's house, for example.

Ben Round de Bloc · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1946