To ask if the word "sitting" has fallen out of use completely?

[LaPerduta]

See also "lying" and "standing".

I realise there are dialects and that this is Mumsnet, not an academic assignment, but I hardly ever see "sitting" being used when - dare I say it - it should be.

Do I need to move with the times?

This is so logical! So invitation has become invite; quotation has become quote; and next prediction becomes predict.

What I find fascinating is that you look at how language evolved and think that everything is getting shortened, and then there are some changes that mean words actually get longer…

Oh I thought it was an edit as in they had taken a big collection of things and edited it down to a smaller selection?

“I was sat” makes me twitch.
Aldo the incorrect use of “myself”.
“invite” as a noun is also pretty bad.

"Is it yourself that's in it?" = Greeting someone you haven't seen in a while
"It was herself that gave it to me" = indicates a level of familiarity with the donor
"You can drop that in to John or myself" = has a bit more emphasis than me

I would pronounce yous and youse differently. The latter would have a more elongated ou so would sound more like yooze, whereas yous would be more like the noun use.

I'm sitting down here but hey, you can't see me...

You’re not alone.
Sat instead of sitting, lay instead of lie, and ‘gifting’ all make me wince. Albeit internally!

Ditto ‘mash’ potato (mashed!), mince beef (minced!) etc.

I don’t mind ‘needs done’, needs washed’ etc. - as long as it’s from a Scot. But too often it isn’t.

@OchonAgusOchonOh

Ah OK, I was familiar with the Irish use of "yourself" and "him/herself".

The third example is a bit more like the more recent trend to use it in U.K. English though but I take the point that it is used for emphasis rather than for fake formality. Would you write it in a letter?

I think that in Scotland "use" and "yous(e)" sound the same.

Ah no sorry you said the NOUN "use".

That doesn't sound the same as the Scottish "yous".

I'd write it in an email but not in a very formal letter. It does denote a level of familiarity.

You can use myself the same way as yourself/herself too.

"It's only myself" or "it was only myself there" would be acceptable.

It has got to the point that if I see someone actually use lie/lying correctly instead of lay/laying I'm surprised. I have a theory that people think lay is a better word because it doesn't have the association with telling an untruth so subconsciously they avoid "lie".

Doesn't explain sat for sitting mind you. Agree with PP who mentioned generally for genuinely too. It totally changes the emphasis of what they are trying to say.

I'm with you OP. It is irritating.

"Led down" irritates me. Envisage someone towing the person along with a rope. Am a HCP and see it written in patient notes "Mrs X was led in bed" - what the actual were you leading Mrs X to do in her bed?!

Kinda invisible, you don't sense my stay...

Some years ago now, a guy I was chatting to on a dating site told me that he was 'lay on the sofa'. I thought it was an odd use of words and sounded rather creepy. Unsurprisingly, this one went nowhere.

Definitely not!

If it is, it's "specific" to an awful lot of regions!

Don't you mean pacific? 😁

So?

Why on earth does it matter?

They let me in to Cambridge as an undergrad and perish the thought I might even have said it in my interview. I know. Standards are so badly slipping. Never mind eh. If you only hang out in Waitrose and on Mumsnet, you will always have somewhere to go to complain about it. I believe that if you overhear it in Waitrose then they'll fan you down and give you a complimentary copy of the Telegraph. Possibly even a pomegranate.

A pomegranate? At this time of year? They're much better when they're in season, you know.

This one- I always type invitation on work related stuff and everyone says invite. It's just wrong!

"I always type invitation on work related stuff and everyone says invite. It's just wrong!"

Me too @FirstAidKitNowPlease! I don't think anyone notices, it's like screaming into a void. But I will not give up.

"Invite" and "quote" are shorter and easier to say that "invitation" and "quotation", and fit in nicely with traditional English ways of getting nouns from verbs. Like the noun "a drink", which comes from the verb "to drink" (albeit with various inflections in the old English to show case/person/number/tense etc., depending on whether noun or verb).

Why shouldn't we apply the rules of our base language to imported words, when that makes life easier, rather than insisting on lengthy suffixes that fit with the Latin/French origin?

Yes, I agree, OP - it grates!

If you're sat, then someone has lifted you into position and sat you somewhere - passive voice.

Participles do seem to cause difficulty. I was a bit taken aback when the school Literacy Co-ordinator (as she was called in those days) asked my son 'What book have you chose?'

Yes...language evolves and I get that spoken everyday language won't always be 'correct', but it's useful to know the accepted form even if you don't choose to use it in day-to-day life.

The biggest error I've ever come across is not understanding that "substitute A for B" means the exact opposite of "substitute A with B".

After confirming their intended meaning with them, I pointed out to the science editor of The Telegraph that in an article they had said the exact opposite of what they intended, with regard to whether eggs or plant protein was healthier. The reply to my helpful suggestion was whether I would like to teach them to suck eggs.

I've just googled, and six years later, the article is still wrong.

This was in an article about how plant protein is healthier.

Substituting eggs for plant protein also led to a 19 per cent reduction in death risk.

www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/08/01/ditch-sausages-for-a-longer-life-say-harvard-scientists/

Well that's just shit. Even if you consider it a language change rather than an error, where it actually introduces genuine ambiguity and confusion it's fair to call a language change bad. And the arrogant response to a helpful note about removing ambiguity is very irritating.