Site Search:
 
Get TEFL Certified & Start Your Adventure Today!
Teach English Abroad and Get Paid to see the World!
Job Discussion Forums Forum Index Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!"
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

Pet Peeves
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3 ... 206, 207, 208
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> General Discussion
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Sashadroogie



Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise

PostPosted: Sat Dec 15, 2012 12:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Opaque comments, possibly insulting - quite a peeve right there.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
it'snotmyfault



Joined: 14 May 2012
Posts: 527

PostPosted: Sun Jul 28, 2013 7:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sports commentators (usually) who use nouns as verbs.

He bronzed at the Olympics.
The golfer greened his pitch.

I had a guinea pig when I was a kid. He silvered in a cute pet competition once.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
johntpartee



Joined: 02 Mar 2010
Posts: 3258

PostPosted: Sun Jul 28, 2013 8:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's back! Sash, where are you, you cunning linguist?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
spiral78



Joined: 05 Apr 2004
Posts: 11534
Location: On a Short Leash

PostPosted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 8:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

my students are getting a little bored of it


Bored of....I think we've had this one before, but it's re-appeared recently and drives me mad Evil or Very Mad
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
johnslat



Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

PostPosted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 1:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dear spiral78,

"Bored of....I think we've had this one before, but it's re-appeared recently and drives me mad "

And yet - it has its uses:

http://www.ebookdlhk.com/book_pic/_0027_038_290_26466226_4.jpeg


Regards,
John
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Harbin



Joined: 19 Feb 2013
Posts: 161

PostPosted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 4:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

- Students saying "I can ...." instead of "One can ..." or "You can ..." when they're not discussing personal ability.

- Students who respond to unreal conditional questions with real conditional responses.

- Should/must/have to errors.

- Pronouncing ten as tin and caught as cot.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
scot47



Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343

PostPosted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 4:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The use of the adjective "awesome" by anyone over the age of 12.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Ariadne



Joined: 16 Jul 2004
Posts: 960

PostPosted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 6:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Harbin, please tell me more about caught and cot. They sound the same to me. How should they sound?


.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
johnslat



Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

PostPosted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 8:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dear Ariadne

And I think I know why:

The Cot-Caught Merger:


One of the major distinctions in American English is something called the Cot-Caught Merger. This is exactly what it sounds like: some dialects merge the sounds in words like cot, lot and Tom with the vowel in caught, paw, and thought. Dialects in the Western United states almost always have this merger; most dialects in the Eastern half of the US do not (with the exception of Northeastern New England).

So, whereas somebody from New Jersey might pronounce cot and caught as IPA kɑt and kɔt (“caht” and “cawht”), somebody from Los Angeles might pronounce these words as IPA kɑt and kɑt(“caht” and “caht”). In other words, the same.

Seems like not a big deal, right? And yet you’d be surprised at how much passion it provokes in people. English-language geeks like myself will spend hours discussing the precise dimensions and specificities of the merger. I was once part of a (now-defunct) language forum where there were three-hundred-page debates over this piece of linguistic minutiae.

Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating. But let me get to the point here: I think I’m cot-caught merging.

This seems strange. I grew up in Connecticut, which is not a Cot-Caught merged state, and I lived in New York City, perhaps the least Cot-Caught merged place on earth, for 13 years (cot is IPA kat whereas caught is IPA kʊət — that is, caht and caw-uht). But I’ve recently noticed that my vowel for cot (or lot or cod) has started to take on a more rounded and backer quality, while the vowel in caught has begun to inch a little forward.

And I’m not the only one. Upon listening to a recording of my beloved significant other, a voiceover artist, I noticed that she tended to pronounce both sounds with a slightly rounded vowel (IPA ɒ). And she grew up in greater Philadelphia, which is another area of extreme difference between the two phonemes.

So what’s going on here? Well, confession time: my girlfriend and I were both trained as actors, and let’s face it, actors aren’t great examples of “normal” dialect behavior. But I have read that the cot-caught merger is spreading like wildfire. Why?

As with all language change, there are bound to be numerous contributing factors, but one possibility I would posit is the rise of the technology sector over the past thirty years. Dialect changes tend to gravitate from where the money is, and until the housing boom, the money was in tech-driven areas like California and Washington State.

Then again, in most parts of the US, the Cot-Caught distinction wasn’t that great to begin with. In places where these sounds are kept distinct, Caught is often only a very slightly rounded version of Cot.

Anybody else feel like their “cots” aren’t all that different from being “caught” these days?"

http://dialectblog.com/2011/03/08/the-cot-caught-merger/


Resistance is futile. Merge or die Very Happy

Regards,
Merged John
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Ariadne



Joined: 16 Jul 2004
Posts: 960

PostPosted: Sun Aug 18, 2013 12:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Johnslat. Interesting. I'm a West Coast gal.

Seems to me that any EFL or ESL teacher who spends class time on cot/caught is battling windmills.

Pick your battles, folks.


.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Harbin



Joined: 19 Feb 2013
Posts: 161

PostPosted: Sun Aug 18, 2013 2:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ariadne wrote:

Seems to me that any EFL or ESL teacher who spends class time on cot/caught is battling windmills.


That's why it's a pet peeve Cool
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Job Discussion Forums Forum Index -> General Discussion All times are GMT
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3 ... 206, 207, 208
Page 208 of 208

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling.
Contact Dave's ESL Cafe
Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved.

Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group

Teaching Jobs in China
Teaching Jobs in China