BS: Language Pet Peeves

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Mrrzy
Date: 28 May 19 - 05:55 PM

Yeah, as a psychologist I find the misuse of my jargon annoying.

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 28 May 19 - 06:07 PM

Psychiatrist to neurotic patient "You have acute paranoia"

Neurotic Patient "I came here to be treated, not admired"

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 29 May 19 - 09:38 AM

Tommy Cooper:
The phone rang so I picked it up and said "Who's speaking, please?"
A voice said "You are."


So, in effect they were both wrong.
At the time Tommy asked "Who's speaking", he was speaking.
At the time the caller said "you are" the caller was also incorrect.

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 29 May 19 - 05:08 PM

"Would of" and "Could of" and of course "Off of" were the common usage in Somerset schools in the 1960s despite constant corrections from the teachers.

Robin

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 29 May 19 - 06:09 PM

You really do have a problem, don't you, Nigel? :-) :-) :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Mrrzy
Date: 29 May 19 - 08:00 PM

Strangled means dead, also.

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Mrrzy
Date: 29 May 19 - 10:00 PM

And if your spouse is dead you're the widow(er), not the wife/husband.

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: leeneia
Date: 30 May 19 - 11:13 AM

Hello, Mrrzy. I'm glad to hear that someone else gives thought to the bullying power of psych terms used carelessly.

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 30 May 19 - 12:22 PM

Language is about communicating ideas. If someone pays too much attention to how "correctly" a communication is worded, then he/she is probably paying too little attention to the thought being communicated. It's analogous to valuing the packaging more than what's in the box.

Having said that, it still grates when my step-son tells a waiter he's going to "do" whatever dish he's ordering. I'm not sure if he's going to eat it, shoot it dead, or fuck it.

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: meself
Date: 30 May 19 - 01:22 PM

Don't blame the younger generation - AFAIK, that use of "do" emerged from hippy culture in the '60s, when people started to "do" rather than "take" drugs. That's when I first encountered that word-use; I remember the time and place ....

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 30 May 19 - 08:21 PM

Mis-placed/unnecessary apostrophes are top of my list, or not using them when they should be there.
Dey-ja voo (already you) instead of dey-ja vyu (already seen) for the other language ones. (phonetic spelling there!)
Complimentary and complementary: so often confused/used incorrectly.
Your and you're.
There, they're and their.
And, of course, could of, would of, should of.

There are a few Scots peculiarities too, such as people saying, and spelling the following word as definATEly. And it's quite commonplace to hear "he has went" instead of "he has gone".

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Mrrzy
Date: 30 May 19 - 09:53 PM

Voo, not vyu, is how I have always heard it...

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: meself
Date: 30 May 19 - 10:37 PM

Tattie, you must have learned your French in a different ecole from moi ... !

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: michaelr
Date: 30 May 19 - 11:24 PM

One that always gets to me is "one of the only..." No, it's either one of the few, or it is The Only.

Another is the misplacement of the word just, as in "You just can't come barging in here" when what's meant is "You can't just come barging in here".

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 31 May 19 - 08:09 AM

One that always gets to me is "one of the only..." No, it's either one of the few, or it is The Only.

It depends on the missing part of the sentence. e.g. "This is one of the only seven known to exist." would appear to be a correct use of the words.

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Mrrzy
Date: 31 May 19 - 09:04 AM

One of the 7, I would think. I just am lovin' this thread.

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: leeneia
Date: 31 May 19 - 10:00 AM

It's not a peeve, but I'm amused by the word "ones." Example: He's one of the ones who trampled Mrs. Hardwick's petunias.

How can there be more than one one?

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: beachcomber
Date: 31 May 19 - 10:02 AM

Politicians, in particular, but many other people use "grow" incorrectly, eg Some say "We will grow our economy...!"

I would like to ask the opinions of Mudcatters on the use of an "R" sound between a word that ends in a vowel and one that commences with a vowel, such as "Aston Villa (r) are the new Champions. Is this a correct figure of speech ?? I've even heard "I saw (r) him do it" ???

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: DMcG
Date: 31 May 19 - 10:25 AM

Just read on a tour guide leaflet :
"Here they stage traditional dance shows, local handicraft workshops and mythical ceremonies"

I might be interested in seeing a mythological ceremony. I think I would feel conned to pay to see a mythical one.

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: John P
Date: 31 May 19 - 12:15 PM

I'm tired of being asked for detes.

Light isn't spelled "Lite". I even had a gas stove with "Lite" on the dial.

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Mrrzy
Date: 31 May 19 - 02:30 PM

I am reminded of a friend who had a sign over his sink that said THINK! There was also a sign above the stairs that said THTAIRS!...

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 31 May 19 - 04:42 PM

Well I'm a stickler for the use of good English, but I must say that many of the complaints here remind me of King Canute. Language is wot people speak, not wot professors of language profess. Whether we like it or not, what we often regard as linguistic outrages generally end up as standard English. "Begging the question," for example, which started out as one thing has become entirely another, and, as such, will be regarded even by naysayers as standard English in its new meaning. If we don't accept the changes we become as the dinosaurs did....

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Mrrzy
Date: 31 May 19 - 07:27 PM

What, birds? Ahahahaha sorry.

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 31 May 19 - 08:00 PM

@mrzzy and meself: it is déjà vu, not déjà vous. Malheureusement, too many people pronounce the "vu" wrongly. The French pronunciation is definitely not "voo" as in "vous". There is not an exact English equivalent, but it is closer to "view" than "voo".
I learned my French at school, yes, but also by staying with a French family for several months; they would not have said "déjà vous"!!

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: michaelr
Date: 31 May 19 - 09:33 PM

Nigel Parsons -- in that case it should be "one of only seven" - "the" is superfluous.

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Neil D
Date: 31 May 19 - 10:58 PM

Mrrzy said: "People are hanged. Pictures are hung."
Reminds me of the scene from "Blazing Saddles" when Bart, who had recently been spared hanging and appointed sheriff, runs into an old acquaintance who says : "Bart, they told me you was hung". Bart responds "and they was right".

My pet peeve is intentionally misspelled word in products or company names. When I used to make meat deliveries in Cleveland, the two big grocery chains on the East Side were Bi-Rite and Sav-Mor. It drove me to distraction.

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 01 Jun 19 - 03:04 AM

And what about "very unique". How can you have degrees of uniqueness?

Robin

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: DMcG
Date: 01 Jun 19 - 03:21 AM

Steve is right about how language evolves and changes, but it can be confusing. A moment ago I read Pixar has dropped a trailer for a new film. In 'old-think' that means the trailer has been cancelled, removed, has gone. In 'new-think' it means it is now available.

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 01 Jun 19 - 05:43 AM

"People are hanged. Pictures are hung."

It is particularly grating in My Fair Lady, a film specifically about the correct use of English, when Rex Harrison sings (or, rather, says)

By law she should be taken out and hung,
For the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Mrrzy
Date: 01 Jun 19 - 09:13 AM

English-speakers can't pronounce the French "u" of vu, but nobody I've heard say it [Yogi Bera] pronounces it with a y (vyu). They [English speakers] do not differentiate vous (voo) and vu (voo).

As a native French speaker I have no problem with that. See Paris, above.

Maybe Higgins was singing tongue in cheek?

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 01 Jun 19 - 09:24 AM

As far as I can see from Chambers and the Oxford Dictionary Online, people may be “hung” or “hanged” but the latter is rather more common.

The Oxford one goes on to explain:   

The reason for this distinction is a complex historical one: hanged, the earlier form, was superseded by hung sometime after the 16th century; it is likely that the retention of hanged for the execution sense may have to do with the tendency of archaic forms to remain in the legal language of the courts

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Mr Red
Date: 01 Jun 19 - 10:55 AM

'The suspect broke into the house and killed two people. Police arrested the suspect, John Smith, yesterday." Kinda defeats the purpose of using the term 'suspect', doesn't it?

Yes and No. Languge is fluid and meanings morph.

Gay has meant, over a period of several hundred years, variously sexually active as in "brisk young widow" to happy about life with no sexual connotations, to the modern appropriation.

As Nigel Rees was won't to say in his books: "bad meanings drive out good"

Hung is ambiguous without context (sexual connotations rear up (sic) again), whereas hanged is more specific. And I am hanged if I know why!
I know which I prefer to be!

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Jos
Date: 01 Jun 19 - 01:39 PM

I don't usually take any notice of sports results, but I have noticed lately that instead of winning cups and trophies teams 'lift' them. It sounds as if they stole them.

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 01 Jun 19 - 04:58 PM

How can there be more than one one?
In binary notation numbers are represented by a series of ones and zeros

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 01 Jun 19 - 05:45 PM

You're all worrying far too much. What you should be worrying about is the fact that Nigel failed to insert a full stop in his last post.. Cheers! :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Bill D
Date: 01 Jun 19 - 09:12 PM

I despise the trend of *verbing* nouns... :"Our staff has surfaced some new data."

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 Jun 19 - 02:12 AM

Like when an Olympic athlete fails to medal...

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: DMcG
Date: 02 Jun 19 - 02:20 AM

Sort of, Bill. I would say it is one of the glories of the English language that we can use pretty much any word as a noun, verb, adjective, adverb ... and bring out a 'tone' that would otherwise go unnoticed. In the hands of a skilled poet or writer this can be wonderful.

Most of us, though, are not skilled poets or writers...

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 02 Jun 19 - 03:10 AM

Maybe Higgins was singing tongue in cheek?

I think you are being too generous, Mrrzy. In any other film, poetic licence would allow the rhyming of hung with tongue - but not this one. The lyricist simply got it wrong and the director didn't pick it up.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Mrrzy
Date: 02 Jun 19 - 08:15 AM

Well, for off rhymes, Tom Lehrer wins. Uncut, and unsubt [riff] tle.

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Mr Red
Date: 02 Jun 19 - 10:47 AM

Mispronunciation and enjambed rhymes for comic effect are all the funnier. Mind you Cole Porter did it all the time to make the yric more fluid and flowing.

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 02 Jun 19 - 06:41 PM

OK, Mrzzy, I did qualify my last post by saying that the French 'Vu" is not the same as "view". How we were taught to say it requires considerable oral contortions: put your lips forward as if you were going to say a "oo" sound, but then say "ee" instead, and you'll get that odd cross between the 2 sounds, for which there is no English comparison!
Parfait, ou non?

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Mrrzy
Date: 02 Jun 19 - 07:37 PM

Nice! Turlututu chapeau pointu! (That was the exercise for the English speakers)

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: JennieG
Date: 03 Jun 19 - 07:31 AM

Many newsreaders here add an extra syllable to words beginning with 'thr', perhaps for emphasis.....for example, "three" becomes "the-ree" and "threat" is now "the-reat", etc.

It is annoying. I have become one of those Olde Phartes who yells at the TV because of things such as this.

Also - when did a sporting match become a "clash"? Something else to yell about......

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Jos
Date: 03 Jun 19 - 07:41 AM

Another that has been really getting on my nerves is "from the get-go"

(often pronounced "from the gecko").

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Mrrzy
Date: 03 Jun 19 - 08:58 AM

That extra syllable is highly folksong-y (the t-uh-rain pulled away on that g-uh-lorious night)... I have not yet had to yell at my radio over it. Yet.

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 03 Jun 19 - 01:39 PM

@Jos: and if they don't win their match they "crash out"! (No, they just lost a game!!)

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: JennieG
Date: 03 Jun 19 - 04:56 PM

When the news is sung they can add as many extra syllables as they like.

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 03 Jun 19 - 07:23 PM

"Pet Peeves"?
You can't, he's a poltergeist, so incorporeal. (at least according to J K Rowling)

Subject: RE: BS: Language Pet Peeves
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 04 Jun 19 - 01:45 AM

You may as well give up on things such as get-go. It's standard English now. As a matter of fact, though I'd never write it, I quite like it and I use it all the time.