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Pedants' corner

I was sat

28 replies

msrisotto · 18/10/2013 19:29

Aaaarrrrgggghhhh! It is driving me absolutely up the wall. My DH has either just started making this particular grammatical error, or I have only recently started noticing it. I am not allowed to correct him anymore.
Worse than this though, is the fecking Telegraph who have just published it in this otherwise vaguely interesting piece that I now cannot finish.

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SvarteKatterogFlosshatter · 18/10/2013 19:36

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Cooroo · 18/10/2013 19:41

It's widely used in Yorkshire. I'd see it as perfectly valid dialect. It is really only conventional that a London-based version of English is deemed 'correct'. I'm speaking as a terrible pedant but 35 years in Yorkshire have made me realise there is room for variety!

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TallulahBetty · 19/10/2013 08:12

Regional dialect. I say this as a figure of speech, but I would never write it, as I know it's incorrect.

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PoppadomPreach · 19/10/2013 08:24

YANBU x 1000

Bugs the hell out of me too. It's wrong, not a dialect!

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Orangeanddemons · 19/10/2013 08:30

In Yorkshire, they say, I were sat.

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TallulahBetty · 19/10/2013 10:39

Well, it's both wrong AND a dialect. Like I said, I say this as a regional figure of speech, but I know it's grammatically wrong, so would never use in written language.

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msrisotto · 19/10/2013 10:40

I'm from the middy midlands, not London by the way.

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edam · 19/10/2013 10:42

I grew up in Yorkshire, would sound fine in spoken English, not in written (although why written English should conform to the dialect of the South East middle and upper classes I do not know).

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Lillielangtry · 19/10/2013 10:59

It isn't Standard English but then much of what we say isn't Standard English. As long as people know not to use it in formal writing, it's fine!

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TallulahBetty · 19/10/2013 11:09

I'm from the Midlands too so it's not just a Yorkshire thing

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addenuf · 19/10/2013 11:28

It's everywhere, BBC included. Just another thing to shout at the television about. I'm hoarse by 0730.

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volestair · 21/10/2013 11:23

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ShowOfBloodyStumps · 21/10/2013 11:28

I was sat and I was stood are becoming quite commonplace I've noticed. Regional dialects are fine but it's used in newspaper articles, advertising, on here etc. I think people genuinely think it's correct.

It sounds completely bizarre to my ears. As bizarre as somebody saying 'I was ate a sandwich'.

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BinarySolo · 21/10/2013 11:36

Yes fine colloquially but would write it. I'm in Yorkshire but originally Leicestershire and I imagine it said in a Lesta accent.

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MiniMonty · 23/10/2013 00:59

Once the past tense has been declared (I was) then the infinitive or present perfect should be used thereafter.

"I was sat" is horrid in every way and no one should accept it, use it or agree to it.

Why would anyone think that being from the North might be an excuse to use their own language badly?

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MiniMonty · 23/10/2013 01:02

PS - in my experience it's more often used out loud as "I were sat there" or "I were stood there" which just makes me hold my head in my hands.

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volestair · 23/10/2013 15:31

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msrisotto · 23/10/2013 16:01

Reading far too much into this but I suppose there are these themes that either.

There is no such thing as correct grammar therefore regional dialects are equally valid or

2. Correct grammar is attainable through proper education (therefore regional dialects are actually uneducated?) which is then resented

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volestair · 23/10/2013 16:17

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MuffCakes · 23/10/2013 16:20

I didn't even realise this wasn't correct.

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Ruprekt · 23/10/2013 16:22

Every single teacher I have EVER worked with says

'You should be sat on the carpet....'

'You should be sat down.....'

It drives me doolally! Unbearable.....

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FalseWidow · 23/10/2013 20:13

Not much to add to this one other than, lots of Yorkshire people consider that we're not saying "I were" but rather "I wa' " - i.e. it's a shortening of 'was', so it's a pronunciation issue rather than a grammatical mistake.

Actually, it's a pronunciation issue AS WELL as a grammatical mistake

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volestair · 23/10/2013 21:21

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FalseWidow · 23/10/2013 22:06

Exactly. I don't really speak that like (dead posh northerner, me) but I grew up with it all around me, and I always thought that 'I wornt' was the way 'I wasn't' was pronounced round them parts.

It also really irritates me the way some people try to do impressions of the Yorkshire accent and insert random 't' sounds into their sentences, as though we're a bunch of blethering idiots. I might have to start a thread on it one day, when a particularly aggravating example comes to mind.

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AlexaChelsea · 23/10/2013 22:08

HATE this.

It's as bad as 'the machine needs plugging in' or 'the wall needs painting'

NO

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