To point out that it's PACKED lunch and not PACK lunch?

[ICameOnTheJitney]

I keep seeing threads on here where people say "Pack lunch" I KNOW this belongs in Pedant's Corner but hey...only people who already know will see it then!

I also get irritated by "mash potato"....it's "MASHED potato" ffs.

I didn't mean to slag off flat bread - I'm very fond of it but it's not suitable for certain situations. Sometimes you feel like a chunky doorstop rather than a wrap.

Opinion and fact, well I'd argue it's a bit of both really. I stand by the fact that grammar rules exist for a reason, which is comprehension. It's easy to notice the difference when learning and speaking other languages.

Nenny Where I am most people say 'text' 'pack'. It could be a regional thing. Texted sounds strange to me

Interesting article there Wasps

I've heard text in the past tense used by people from all over the country so I don't
think of it as regional use.

Especially when the alternative is so obviously wrong.

Apparently not. Apparently that's an elitist attitude, don't you know...

I would say 'you shunta text him'

Which translates to "you shouldn't have texted him'

I cant say much about grammar etc when I tall like that

SP I think you are in West Yorkshire? I honestly haven't heard it any more here than anywhere else. The only people I know who use text like that are in the North West of England and near London respectively.

I say for past tense I say text' - yep, it has a silent "ed"

But that would only work if the present tense is "tex". Which it obviously isn't, not least because you don't say "I am texing".

The standing assumption in grammar is that any new verb formation is regular. There are historical reasons for irregular verbs being irregular, none of which apply to "text". Think, for example, of "hand" as a verb. You don't say "X hand the plate to Y" when you mean X handed it, even though it has a "d" on the end.

you don't say "I am texing"

I know people who do .

Well, unless they are talking about bias cut fabric.

Glad to help.

No, that isn't an exception to the rule, because it's fabric cut on the bias - neither the cut nor the fabric is biased.

I miss words out not just ed all the time.

I would say 'I'm going shop' instead of 'I'm going to the shop'.Why use 5 words when 3 will do.

I've been thinking of verbs ending in a t and preceded by a consonant. For example, surely it's accepted that the past tense of impact is impacted? No one would say 'it impact' in the past tense.

Why 'snap' though?

Because that's what it is, your snap. Or bait. Or butties. Or packing up. Or pack up. Or ............ bento.

Can you tell I've moved around a bit.

I think I say 'texing'

I think I drop t's off the end of words

I say tex too.

I would also say texing.

Usual I'd say 'Am of t'shop'

Exactly as the queen would say

SharpLily There's a difference between right v. wrong & right v. thick, lazy, dirty etc.

We is common,SP.

Er, I didn't call people who don't conjugate their verbs correctly dirty, Wasps. Not at any point.

*I say for past tense I say text' - yep, it has a silent "ed"

But that would only work if the present tense is "tex". Which it obviously isn't, not least because you don't say "I am texing".*

Why? the ' signifies the silent ed. I haven't used a t as an irregular ending.

Sharp Lily Oh, let me amend that then. It's different to right v. people who haven't progressed far enough to have learnt to wash their underwear on a more frequent basis so they're not filthy.

I still believe there may be a little more of elitism in that than "wrong"

Did you not read the post you're talking about? The lack of washing was nothing to do with grammar. I didn't even mention how the girl conjugated her verbs. I was making the point that something becoming common practice doesn't make it right - as in (and I know this isn't the appropriate place to bring up such a serious subject, but clearly my more lighthearted analogy fell flat so I'm using a sledgehammer to crack a nut) FGM is common practice in certain cultures, but that doesn't make it right.

For what it's worth, the little girl I mentioned was very sweet and I had no objection to her smell, but I objected to her parents' cruelty in setting her up to be bullied at school as a result of their poor hygiene.

I just can't get worked up about language or how people talk.

I have to agree with those saying that language evolves and adapts.

So what if lots of verbs form their past tenses with the addition of -ed? There are also loads that don't - and who gets to decide which is right and which is wrong?

Perhaps it just means that these words are in the process of evolving, and "text" will be a perfectly acceptable past tense, and "pack lunch" an ordinary compound noun.

And so what if something happens to be an Americanism?? I agree that some things are, but does it matter? It doesn't mean that they should for all time be restricted to one area of the English speaking world! If British speakers are now using them, then they have become part of British English too. After all, how long does a word have to have been used in order for it to be considered acceptable? Is there some kind of official standard length of time? Of course not.

And just to cut it short, I agree with a lot of what KepekCrumbs is saying!