To expect people not to use the word hung when they mean hanged.

[cushioncover]

Ok, I know IABU, and I'm no grammar queen myself but I've read this 4 times today and I just had to rant about it! There!

[UCM]

I know that lots of young people today can't even write properly or do addition or speak in a way I can understand. So yes, I honestly to think that if you stick to the foundation skills, then the rest will follow.

God forbid that more Americanizations ruin the English Language. We are not American here, we are British, have been for years and for some unspoken reasons, it works. Why try to fix it.

[skidoodle]

You know what I love? when people say
"Does that need fixed?"

Or the use of "trun" as the past tense of the verb "to throw"
as in "I trun it, Miss"

Or the Dublin phrase "that's cat", pronounced "that's cah", when spoken by people who are too posh to say it the normal way and actually pronouce the final t.

Or the greeting "'bout ya?", short for "how about you?"

Non-standard English rules. hee hee, see what I did there?

[StealthPolarBear]

wot ucm sed

[StealthPolarBear]

what does "that's cat" mean?

[kickassangel]

infer & imply
my mother gets it wrong - i just managed to stop myself from correcting her!

[skidoodle]

I'm not British and I speak and write very well in English.

Absolutely teach people foundations, but at least know what they are before you start banging on about them.

The danger to English in England comes not from Americans, but from your education system. Luckily the Celtic nations have higher standards. And better English to some ways of thinking. They're keeping "your" [ha ha ha] language alive while you worry about text speak without understanding its power and usefulness.

OK, I've had my fun. Sorry, as you were.

[skidoodle]

OK, one more

@StealthPolarBear

It means "that's bad/unfair/rubbish"

[StealthPolarBear]

thanks, never heard of it but might have to start using it now

[Bouquetsofdynomite]

Oh Skidoodle, tis all in fun! I did flippin Linguistics at university, I've got a degree in being descriptive not prescriptive. And yes I'm sure that haitch is probably a regional accent feature by now. But it still annoys me, just like people wearing dayglo Crocs annoy me - ranting is fun and that's that .

[Ellbell]

Sorry, skid. Didn't mean to accuse you have having a sense of humour failure and then leg it, but dh came home from work and I felt I should drag myself away from MN to acknowledge him!

I come on 'pedant' threads, and willingly describe myself as a pedant on them because, yes, I am a saddo, and I do write 'different from' rather than 'different to' and so on. And I find it quite amusing that other people also feel the same way. On the whole, these threads are meant light-heartedly. I would never, for example, criticise a poster for their use of English or spelling or whatever. That is not what MN is about.

I am quite attached to 'correct' English. I also embrace linguistic change and, particularly, inventiveness (i.e. I prefer it to have been done deliberately!). I don't judge people on how they speak or write, unless they happen to be my students and I am marking their work (at which point I feel justified, no?).

Pronunciation is something else. I have no problem with 'haitch' - though it's not how I say it. I just enjoy winding my dh up by telling him it's 'wrong'!

[StealthPolarBear]

Exactly Ellbell
I also have an issue with big companies getting it wrong
I'm far from perfect and welcome corrections as I like to know these things, unless, as you say it isn't appropriate on the thread
Can someone please help me remember how to spell occasionally - is that right?

[Ellbell]

Yes, that's right, SPB.

[skidoodle]

STP, it's a special Dublin word. You should definitely use it. If you are English then try to not pronounce the final T, it will sound fantastic.

Nothing is better than picking up sayings from other dialects that don't fit with your own. Make your idiolect as idiosyncratic as possible, that's my motto.

BouquetsofDynamite - some of it is in fun and some of it is meanspirited and some of it has cultural political overtones, e.g. you being annoyed by a pronunciation that is the standard pronunciation in an English-speaking country very close to your own. I don't love being told that the way that I and my fellow countrypeople speak is ignorant or objectionable.

But laughing at the Britishers picking holes in how other people speak English is a proud tradition going back to James Joyce, amongst others

As for crocs - they are a mystery I can't even attempt to comprehend. I fear them more than anything. They have taken too many good people.

respect for the degree in Linguisitcs. That shit is hard.

[Ellbell]

Haitch is a common pronunciation all over the place skid, not just over there. I am in West Yorkshire, where it seems to be the norm (as I said, dds are being taught it in school!).

[frogs]

And a plea for

"He was a disinterested observer" vs "I am utterly uninterested in football"

They are not synonyms, people!

And 'reticent' vs 'reluctant'. Even journos are starting to use "He was reticent to discuss blahdiblah".

Aaaargh.

[Bouquetsofdynomite]

I know it's a bit like saying "I'm not a racist but let's moan about everyone who doesn't look like us." But if language is something to have fun with then it's human nature to laugh at people having more fun than us.

[madness]

Written by my son's teacher: "...and if there are any Parent's who want to ...."

[UCM]

Go on then, Madness, do it, correct it please as I am thinking that parents should be with a small p and that the apostrophe should be on the other side of the s and then the want should be would like to.......Arghhhhhhhhhh

[Bouquetsofdynomite]

Oh God, my dd starts school this month. What do people do when teachers misspell something? Is it bad form to hand back things with red pen corrections?

[skidoodle]

Ellbell,

No worries

I'm also quite the pedant when it comes to my own writing and I do notice and grit my teeth at grocers' apostrophes (or was it one grocer that brought about that use?), prefer to queue with 10 items or fewer, have rejected a suitor who wrote "your so pretty", and the infer/imply mistake almost makes me lose my reason [although that's kind of different, because that mistake really causes sentences not to make sense], different from/to is not one I care about, but I'll probably start now: I collect these things

And when I taught English I sought to teach my students how to write correctly as well as clearly. The classroom is the right place to be pedantic about getting things right. Students love it. [really, deep down they do]

Still and all I see a lot of meanspiritedness in threads like these. Some people really do get a boost to their sense of righteousness and take it away and do abuse other people for making mistakes when they are having online conversations. That makes me sad.

As for teasing your DH, I tease mine for not being able to pronounce his Rs at the end of words and other strange Britisher ways he has. It's fun, I do realise that.

Also I am just contrary, so where lots of people agree in harmony I just have to step in and ruin it all.

[StealthPolarBear]

no apostrophe at all surely?

[StealthPolarBear]

skidoodle - I love your last sentence

[UCM]

You just started a paragraph with And........

[skidoodle]

OMG thank you frogs.

I was trying to think of that one. That is my most hated of all. But it's so long since I heard anyone using the word "uninterested" that I'm wondering if "disinterested" is becoming an acceptable word in both contexts. [over my dead body etc. ]

As my Dad taught me many years ago:

"A judge must be disinterested but not uninterested in the case to do his job."

Ellbell, I didn't know it was a West Yorkshire thing too. Interesting. Although I find that in England it's still pretty acceptable to look down on regional accents and pronunciations and declare them "wrong".

Wow, Madness. I would definitely have a sense of humour bypass about that. I think in that situation I would speak to the principal. I don't like to be critical of teachers as they do a hard and often thankless job but I would not want someone teaching my child if they didn't know how to use capital letters or apostrophes.

[babymutha]

Shakespeare's grammar was terrible....
but then he did invent some good words, and a few memorable phrases....
his plays were alright too