Job Discussion Forums

[simon_porter00]

I know this is wildly off topic, but i'm not registered on the other part of the site, so i beg your forgiveness.

What's the difference between:
in charge i.e. the boss is in charge and
in the charge?

I cannot think of any examples for the second, and thus am not able to tell my student, who asks bloody annoying questions, what the difference is.

Any help, as always, greatly appreciated.

[Richfilth]

I'd venture that it's either a criminal charge ("in the charge brought against you it is stated that...") OR it's yet another Pole having trouble with articles, which has crept into official corporate jargon.

I've never heard of it - is a US or Australian thing?

[Big_Cannon]

Neither.
A far as style or usage is concerned, the expression "in the charge" could be old use or rare. Though it will be found in old books, it is no longer used in modern English.

[ecocks]

The warehouse was left in the charge of Walter Thompson.
(referring to control of a physical property or item rather than the person)

Now as Big points out this may be fading in usage since people could chose to say: Walter Thompson was left in charge of the warehouse. However, if your primary subject in a discussion was the warehouse, as opposed to old Walter, it doesn't strike me as odd to hear it stated the first way. It would seem that a being is "in charge" but items or objects are "in the charge of" someone.

Then there is this one, "He participated in the charge upon the objective."

Without the "in" there are other uses:

The charge of malfeasance was leveled against the mayor last week.

The Charge of the Light Brigade is a poem wich glorifies poor military judgment and lack of battlefield control.

The charge card statement contained several interesting expenditures.

[simon_porter00]

Many thanks for the replies. It was from an advanced vocabulary book that i got these, from the section about prepositions at the beginning of expressions, so it isn't a Pole playing about with the language. (it'd be an easy explanation if it was!)

[dynow]

if i may, because this question seems to have been answered, i have a question of my own:

Ever since I came to Poland, I have heard my students over-use "haven't". meaning....

I haven't time for reading.

I haven't any idea why.

I haven't a good job.

It's so abundant and engraved in so many of my students' heads, that for me to correct it every time would waste half the class. Now, I know that the majority of Polish people, if they were taught by a native speaker, they were probably Brittish or Irish, more so Brittish. Also, if their teacher was a Pole, their teacher was most likely taught by a Brit over the years just the same.

With that said, is this a part of some Brittish English dialects? As an American, I can say that I never heard anyone speaking this way in America, but it is so abundantly used in ways stated above that I can't help but wonder if they were taught this way.

Thanks in advance

[Richfilth]

It's archaic British English; pre-war films contain it and some of the "posher" accents still do, for want of a better word at 7am...

Bear in mind that Polish has a dependancy on the verb "to have" in place of the English "to be" (mam 25 lat - I have 25 years, which sounds more like an accurate medical prediction) and Poles therefore feel more comfortable with "have and have not" rather than "don't have."

[ecocks]

I have wondered about over-reliance on certain English words and phrases here in Ukraine. In particular the following:

tasty - is this still a popular British expression?
always - absolutes in general seem over-used
one more question - have heard 8-9 times in several different conversations
actually - used a LOT at the start of sentences
of course - as an answer, usually a little too much of an assumption

The first one might be a Brit/North American thing like holidays versus vacation, but the others seem to be over-used. I thought these might occur due to limited textbooks and methodology in the lower grades of public education, but some appear to be 1L or teacher driven. Anyone have any thoughts, enlightenment or other expressions that seem to "crop up" a lot?

And, please, make it a discussion, not a cultural/political rant please, this is supposed to be fun.

[Big_Cannon]

[Big_Cannon]

[Richfilth]

"tasty" for any other object than food as a compliment certainly gets used in the South East of England, but it's losing its popularity as a slang word now ("tasty motor" for good-looking car, or "tasty bird" for attractive woman, probably havent been heard since the 1980s.)

As for the others, teenage punctuation or general dimwittedness* - it almost sounds like your students have been exposed to an Essex Girl for far too long at some point.


*yes, yes, small vocabulary does not reflect intelligence, Im just stirring.

[ecocks]

How about SPHERES?

I am in the sphere of marketing.

Which sphere of business are you in?

That is not my sphere.

Where is that dang textbook that seems to teach them these phrasings?

Do the Brits make this reference? I worked for a British company for a while and never heard it until arriving here.

[Richfilth]

I'd venture that's just the heady world of corporate bullsh!t

[spiral78]

Exec-speak. It's rampant at the uni in Canada where I used to teach.

[ecocks]

I hear it from people at all levels. University students, executives, sales people, etc. use this the way westerners use area and field. Such as, "an area of expertise" or "field of interest." I can't explain it but this one, tasty and those absolutes seem like a learned response rather than just a vernacular or slang term.

Not in other areas of Eastern Europe though huh? Ah well. Who else has some interesting turns of phrases or speech?