Job Discussion Forums

leeroy · Joined: 30 Jan 2003 Posts: 777 Location: London UK

(Hell, I've never posted on here sober, I'm not going to start now...)

"Hello"
"Goodbye"
"Bye-bye"
"very"
"much/many" (in positive sentences)
"so-so"
"How are you? - Fine thankyou"
"cannot"
"delicious"
"diligent"

These are some of the words that are vastly overused by students worldwide. I consider it my personal mission to hammer them out, using violence if necessary. It will be the death of me before "very like" becomes an acceptable colllocation...

johnslat · Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2003 10:59 pm Post subject: Bye-bye

Dear leeroy,
Hello, how are you? I'm fine, thank you. I'm afraid I cannot understand why you find so many of those words objectionable. I mean, they're all used so much. I agree that students whose vocabulary is only so-so often
overuse them, but if we are diligent teachers, we can supply them with some delicious alternatives. After all, students are very like babies, who need to crawl before they can walk.
Goodbye
John

nomadder · Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2003 11:10 pm Post subject:

You lost me back on the fat as* thread lee boy. By the by what`s the female against male sticks and stones equivalent-small duck..... Rolling Eyes

leeroy · Joined: 30 Jan 2003 Posts: 777 Location: London UK

Walked straight into that, didn't I?

Smile

But, Johnslat, there are so many (doh!) viable alternatives out there. I honestly can't remember the last time I heard a native speaker say "so-so" or "diligent", yet I hear it from students every day!

leeroy · Joined: 30 Jan 2003 Posts: 777 Location: London UK

nomadder

huh?

Did no-one get that I was taking the piss in that thread?

J-Pop · Joined: 07 Oct 2003 Posts: 215 Location: USA

Just a guy · Joined: 06 Oct 2003 Posts: 267 Location: Guangxi

You will to be very clever to do this.

johnslat · Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2003 11:25 pm Post subject: Wazzup!

Dear leeroy,
Hmm, I hear " so-so " fairly often and heck - "diligent" is my middle name ( my Mom had a strange sense of humor). But seriously - what irks me is native speakers who use expressions such as " What's up? " ( just how is one supposed to answer that, anyway? ) and " You know " ( about three times per sentence).
Regards,
John

leeroy · Joined: 30 Jan 2003 Posts: 777 Location: London UK

Why thank you J-pop

Mind you, let's bear in mind that I'm never that drunk - typing does require some coordination after all - and the horrific colour scheme that Dave has chosen for this website is quite a severe deterrant (sp?).

My ideas for posts usually come during the (sober) hours of the day, my desire to articulate them usually comes after a couple of beers or glasses of wine. Speaking of which, time for a refill...

leeroy · Joined: 30 Jan 2003 Posts: 777 Location: London UK

John

Out of principle, I'm not going to address you with a post entitled "What's up John?", and suffix it with "you know?". I know that's what you want me to do, and I'm not going to do it. It would simply be too easy.

Seriously, do you know people who use "so-so"?

shmooj · Joined: 11 Sep 2003 Posts: 1758 Location: Seoul, ROK

Yes. Incessantly. I no longer accept this adjective in my classes.

johnslat · Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2003 11:47 pm Post subject: So, so-so's verboten, huh?

Dear leeroy,
Yup, I do - seriously. In fact (gasp), I've been known to use it myself. But seriously - what alternatives would you recomment for that evil expression. Not bad? OK? Mediocre? Fair or fairish? Middling? No great shakes? Nothing to write home about?
Regards,
John

Wolf · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 1245 Location: Middle Earth

leeroy · Joined: 30 Jan 2003 Posts: 777 Location: London UK

Yes John,

"OK" and "alright/all right" are exactly what I provide as alternatives - anything but the evil "so-so". The problem, though, with "OK" and "alright" is that they are reliant on intonation.

There is (I think) a cultural element to using "so-so" as well, they love it as it is non-commital/neutral in terms of personal opinion.

"How's London?"
"So-so"

"Do you like studying English?"
"So-so"

"So, alien invasion, that would suck, huh?"
(pause)...."I think..... so-so"

"How about living in hell?"
etc...

johnslat · Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2003 11:58 pm Post subject: Odd

Dear Wolf,
Sweet sufferin' succotash - it's truly weird how that book/movie " The Princess Bride " has popped up here in the past couple of days. See - if you haven't already - the Saudi Arabia forum, thread " Going to Iraq and Ruin ", page 3.
Regards,
John