BS: Language: 'I forgot my glasses at home.'

Subject: RE: BS: Language: 'I forgot my glasses at home.'
From: Helen
Date: 01 Jun 24 - 03:07 PM

Stilly, me too. Pairs of cheap glasses everywhere, although I still use the prescription lenses for computer and reading sessions. The cataract surgeon gave me a choice of lenses and I told him my distance vision is good and I have only needed glasses for computer and reading so he kept it that way.

I guess, technically, the "correct" phrase is "I left my glasses at home" but the "forgot" phrase could be a contraction of "I forgot and left my glasses at home". Language changes over time and locations around the world. Teaching ESL students the correct English is good, but they also need to also understand the common phrases being used in their society. As an example, in Oz they would have to know the meaning of "G'day!" and "Goodonya, mate!" to navigate society effectively. LOL

Subject: RE: BS: Language: 'I forgot my glasses at home.'
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 01 Jun 24 - 02:56 PM

I would like to conduct a straw poll, as there are posters on both sides of the pond who claim never to have even heard this usage

I am in England and, as far as I can recall, I have never heard the phrase 'I forgot my glasses at home'. It is either 'I forgot my glasses' or 'I left my glasses at home'.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Language: 'I forgot my glasses at home.'
From: meself
Date: 01 Jun 24 - 02:54 PM

DaveRo - Whereabouts in the world are you? (That's not meant to be sarcastic, just all-inclusive!).

Subject: RE: BS: Language: 'I forgot my glasses at home.'
From: DaveRo
Date: 01 Jun 24 - 02:45 PM

meself wrote: ... is this a usage you are familiar with (whatever you think of it)?

No.

And if someone were to say it I would wonder if they meant they left them at home or whether that was where the glasses were when they forgot where they were.

Subject: RE: BS: Language: 'I forgot my glasses at home.'
From: Joe Offer
Date: 01 Jun 24 - 02:12 PM

I'm pretty good at not leaving my glasses nowadays, because I can't do much without them. When I needed only reading glasses, I often forgot my glasses at home and often found myself in a problematic situation. And it's not that "left" my glasses at home - I forgot them there, and certainly didn't leave them there occasionally.

But nowadays, my problem is with my hiking stick, which I use instead of a cane to to help me walk with a bad hip. And I often forget my cane at home because I actually can walk a couple hundred feet before I start hurting. And I think I don't look as elderly with a hiking stick instead of a cane...and it works better for me.

Subject: RE: BS: Language: 'I forgot my glasses at home.'
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Jun 24 - 02:11 PM

Yes. I was in a restaurant with a friend recently and he couldn't read the menu. "I forgot to bring my glasses" may have been what he said, but the gist of it was, he left them at home.

I reached into my handbag and handed him the spare pair of 2.5+ readers I carry for myself and he ordered without having the menu read to him by me. After cataract surgery I no longer need corrective lenses, only close up for reading and computer work. I frequently "forget my glasses" in one room and end up using a pair I've left in another. At this point I probably have 10 pair of them around the house, by my computer and bedside, and the spare in my purse. They sell a good brand in packs of three or four at Costco for a very good price. (In Texas, US)

Subject: RE: BS: Language: 'I forgot my glasses at home.'
From: Helen
Date: 01 Jun 24 - 02:11 PM

Here in Oz, I have never heard the phrase 'I forgot my glasses at home'.

One of the units I studied in my post-grad teaching diploma was ESL and I agree with your comments Charmion.

Subject: RE: BS: Language: 'I forgot my glasses at home.'
From: meself
Date: 01 Jun 24 - 02:04 PM

MaJoC the Filk: I can relate ... sadly ... !

Subject: RE: BS: Language: 'I forgot my glasses at home.'
From: meself
Date: 01 Jun 24 - 02:03 PM

I agree completely - but the course designer is undeserving of your charity, IMO. However, the instructor in the video is mounting a most determined defence of the notion that the phrase is 'wrong', ascending to airy heights of pedantry, and refusing to allow that it's even a common 'misuse', and is supported in this latter contention by various posters in the Comments, who, as I say, claim to be quite unfamiliar with it. Hence, my 'straw poll' here.

Subject: RE: BS: Language: 'I forgot my glasses at home.'
From: Charmion
Date: 01 Jun 24 - 01:48 PM

To be fair to the ESL course designer, the pupils have probably been taught to say "I *left* my glasses at home." This is a case of poor test design; in a multiple-choice question, the list of answers should not include something that is correct, but not preferred.

It is dead wrong to teach ESL students that any idiomatic English phrase is "wrong" because it's almost always correct somewhere, sometime!

Subject: RE: BS: Language: 'I forgot my glasses at home.'
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 01 Jun 24 - 01:40 PM

Thanks for the reminder, meself. My great-grandfather was legendary for bellowing around the house, demanding to know where his glasses were. His wife's traditional reply: "Put your hands on your head."

Skipping down three generations, I used to pointedly get asked why I had two pairs of glasses rather than getting bifocals, to which I would reply: "How can I see to find my glasses if I haven't got my glasses on?"

Subject: RE: BS: Language: 'I forgot my glasses at home.'
From: meself
Date: 01 Jun 24 - 01:17 PM

They're on your face - you're wearing them!

Subject: RE: BS: Language: 'I forgot my glasses at home.'
From: Charmion
Date: 01 Jun 24 - 12:56 PM

Yes, I hear it frequently. The location of one’s glasses is a hot topic in my circle.

Subject: BS: Language: 'I forgot my glasses at home.'
From: meself
Date: 01 Jun 24 - 12:35 PM

The phrase in question - "I forgot my glasses at home" - is the subject of a youtube video for ESL students, is presented as 'wrong', and apparently is marked as such on an ESL exam (whether a specifically UK exam or international, I don't know). Now, I'm not interested in arguing about it here, as the matter is being thoroughly dissected in the youtube comments, but I would like to conduct a straw poll, as there are posters on both sides of the pond who claim never to have even heard this usage - which, frankly, I find hard to believe, certainly in the case of the Americans.

So, here's the question: is this a usage you are familiar with (whatever you think of it)?