What has Mumsnet taught you you've been doing wrong all of your adult life without realising?!

[harriethoyle]

Inspired by a recent thread, in which I read multiple posters saying you shouldn't wear mascara on your bottom lashes (which I have been doing for the last 30 years 😂) what has Mumsnet told or taught you you've been doing wrong?

The irritating thing is then I made one eye up as usual and made one up without mascara on the bottom lashes and DH preferred the without eye! Don't even get me started on my inability to make a chicken last a week...

People saying haitch can certainly be found all over the UK to some degree, but it is definitely far more prevalent in some areas than others, in the same way that words like owt or nowt or ain't are used commonly used in some areas but rarely in others. Or when a word gets pronounced differently in spite of its spelling, eg. arks in place of ask. I'd consider those to regional (or sometimes cultural) affectations. I suppose dialect is the correct term but what is dialect, if not a form of cultural or regional affectation?

A linguist can say whatever they like about something being standard or non-standard. Linguistics is a very broad discipline that concerns itself with more than just the formally agreed British spelling of a word. As far as I am concerned, if a word appears in all the approved British English dictionaries spelt in a particular way, then that is its correct form. The OED has an entry for haitch which says it's a 'variation' of aitch but if you want to know the etymology of the word haitch then you won't find one. It's a blank page. You need to go to the original source aitch to find out more.

Would you be in favour a system where people no longer had their spelling policed or corrected at all, even in education? What about in business? Should we just give everyone free rein to spell and punctuate as they wish, using the Linguistic's favourite argument that 'language evolves' and declare all 'variations' as equally valid and a matter of personal choice?

Should we allow definitely to become a word with two 'non-standard' spellings of definately and defiantly ? Ditto genuinely and generally? ^Because I see those mixed up, mispelt and mispoken on a weekly basis and have done since the invention of the smart phone. People now spell and speak as they have learnt to via predictive text, for crying out loud.

In the same vein, why should we continue to differentiate between then and than when it seems that half the population under 30 cannot?

If 'non-standard' is not to be considered incorrect, then why bother teaching a 'standard' for anything? How long do you think it would take for total language chaos to ensue and for the majority of children to be become functionally illiterate?

Haitch is standard though.

But it isn't.
It varies according to area.
I would suggest that both are standard.

Yes absolutely, that's what I meant. Both a are standard, both are correct.

On MN, however, both are standard, both are correct, both are wrong, and only middle class snobs insist haitch is wrong.
Given that only a tiny minority of MNers are middle class, then haitch must be right.

Having done a bit of googling I notice that BBC news readers pronounce H as aitch BTW.

what is dialect, if not a form of cultural or regional affectation?

I think your making up your own definition there. Dialect is not an affectation.

Should we just give everyone free rein to spell and punctuate as they wish...

No, I don't think this. What I am saying is there is more than one standard form of the English language. Most people are familiar with differences in American English but often don't seem to realise that there are a number of standards within the UK (and close by) as well. Scottish Standard English in Scotland and standard Hiberno-English on the island of Ireland coexist as standards along with Standard British English.

I'm not talking about dialects in this instance (though I love them).
I'm talking about there being more than one standard.

Haitch is the standard in Hiberno-English. I may have mentioned this already, as have many others at this stage 😅

Jesus Haitch Christ, a dialect is an 'affectation'? Is that really how some people think?

Slidesclipsandbobbins, great post.

Not their own dialect though, that's just correct. Always the way. Probably the same people who claim they don't have accents.

Or, at best, that they have a 'neutral' one (ain't nothing neutral about southern British English, as almost anyone outside the Home Counties can testify).

Just started this thread and I'm short of time but WHAT?!

Did an answer emerge? What are we meant to do without brush or bleach?

Apparently you put on gloves and go in there with a wad of loo roll and scrub

TOLERATINH CRAP BEHAVIOUR!

You then go outside, burn the gloves and haz-mat suit and go into your immaculately clean bathroom (probably the en-suite that your DH isn't allowed to use) and scrub yourself raw with anti-bacterial shower gel.

Tolerating

Is that so 😶

If your DD has a baby, you have no right whatsoever to comment negatively on the name, even if she decides that Donald John Trump III is a perfect name for her.

@Yelloworangetomato batshittery or what?!

I should pay more attention to these threads, I suspect I'm doing all manner of things wrong

Okay, I agree that affectation probably wasn't an appropriate choice of word. I should have said adaptation, or variation.

Although having looked at the definition of affectation (meaning someone speaking in a way that is pretentious and designed to impress) then I'd say anyone hypercorrecting to say 'haitch' in the belief that it makes them more well spoken than me with my 'aitch' is most definitely guilty of an affectation, even if innocently done!

Wasn't aitch the original hypercorrection?

Where are all these people hypercorrecting to say haitch in the belief it makes them more well-spoken?

Where I live it's just the normal, usual way of speaking.

And aitch is where I live

Are you Irish?

Yes, I am.