BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Bill D
Date: 20 May 15 - 11:15 AM

almost forgot the thread I started a couple of years ago... which is relevant to several posts in this thread.

vocal fry

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 20 May 15 - 09:58 AM

Yes, I must agree there are a few "free range Yanks" who are dangerous, but most of us are kindnatured and cuddly.

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: gnu
Date: 19 May 15 - 06:45 PM

Idaho? I knows a guy from Idaho... he's a Mudcatter. Man, that dude? I wouldn't want to speak improperly in his presence. Ya knows them there free range Yanks, eh? Nasty as a kicked rattler and packin heat. They practice that there Fang Yoo type stuff.

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 19 May 15 - 09:26 AM

And the amazing thing is, they don't seem to realize what they're doing.

By the way, gnu, I bet you would enjoy the books of Patrick MacManus. He's interested in many of the same things you are - hunting, fishing, the great outdoors and other manly stuff.

He's the one who made the all-too-true observation that camping equipment expands by 50% over the course of a trip.

He's from Idaho.

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: gnu
Date: 18 May 15 - 07:22 PM

GUEST,leeneia... yeah... been there... it sucks trying to be polite when they do not.

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 18 May 15 - 12:44 PM

Interrupting is almost always rude, gnu, except in the case of the rare person who never ends a sentence. I have run into them once or twice.

One night I was sitting in Lucy's kitchen while Ann was talking. I noticed that Lucy looked extremely tired, and I decided that when Ann came to the end of a thought, I would announce that we were going home.

Ann then talked for 20 minutes without putting a period on a sentence. I know because I watched the clock. After the twenty minutes I barged in to announce that we were going home. Ann was clearly offended at my interruption, but to me Lucy's need was greater, and I don't apologize. (I doubt if Ann is even aware of her bad habit.)

I recently read a story by Patrick McManus (American humor writer) where his narrator produces one sentence which lasts four pages. It's the same type of thing.

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 18 May 15 - 07:37 AM

100

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Ed T
Date: 18 May 15 - 07:07 AM

""If more people fished they would have no need to talk except for the one that got away""

Maybe it't the fear of the smell that limits social interaction, like conservation, with those who fish - (or, more specifically, those who actually make contact with fish)? Just spectating.

:)

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 18 May 15 - 05:01 AM

Well, er, you know what I mean, like, um.
Once had a patient describe what happened when she fell at her work. She had slipped on stairs, claimed the floor was greasy. But what she actually said, and I recorded verbatim:
Me : "Tell me how you fell"
Her: "well, um, it was kind of hingummy, ken whit I mean, like?" And further questions didn't shed any more light.
Later she decided to submit a compensation claim against her employers, and the lawyers asked for a copy of her records: hope they enjoyed the read!

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Rusty Dobro
Date: 18 May 15 - 05:00 AM

'Sod the whales. Save the gerund!' Tom Stoppard, in 'The Real Thing'.

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: olddude
Date: 17 May 15 - 09:55 PM

If more people fished they would have no need to talk except for the one that got away

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: gnu
Date: 17 May 15 - 06:23 PM

I was interrupted four times in a debate a few weeks ago. Finally, I said, paraphrasing, "Look. This is how a conversation works. One person talks and the other person listens until the person talking has made a point(s) or asked a question(s). Then, the other person talks and questions while being fucking listened to. If you interrupt me one more time, then this is NOT a conversation and I will simply walk away you rude, ignorant and arrogant fuck. Do you understand me? That is a simple question and I yield the floor to you."

Honestly, sometimes ya just gotta tell em in a language they might understand.

Yes, that is off topic from the OP but hey, par for the course innit?

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Ed T
Date: 17 May 15 - 05:44 PM

Same word- it does matter where you are:


Leominster 

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Lighter
Date: 17 May 15 - 03:52 PM

Then there's the actor Walter Hyooston (spelled "Huston").

And his son, director John Huston (pronounced "Hyooston").

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 17 May 15 - 02:03 PM

The oo sound in 'who' is a long oo

The one in 'good' is a short one.

≈M≈

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Ebbie
Date: 17 May 15 - 01:01 PM

Bonzothethreelegged, careful or we'll start in on the pronunciation of some words in the UK. :)

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 17 May 15 - 07:32 AM

But I've hear it pronounced "hyooston" on the BBC News, which is the very cornerstone!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 16 May 15 - 12:43 PM

when in fact it is pronounced HOOSTON (with a sort of 'short' oo sound as in 'who')

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: GUEST
Date: 16 May 15 - 09:03 AM

Houston, Texas                HEWS-ton
Houston Street, NYC       HOWS-ton

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 16 May 15 - 08:31 AM

I would have thought that they delivered coal in sex in South Efrica!!

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 16 May 15 - 08:11 AM

"Maybe because many folks drive "caaws" in "Boston"?."
Like sex used to be what they delivered coal in in the posher parts of Liverpool
"Lewis."
Not to add to the confusion - would that be Morse's mate?
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Lighter
Date: 15 May 15 - 05:40 PM

Sorry, Ed. Somehow I read "Jim Carroll" as an attribution to Lewis.

Quite weird, really. Bizarre, in fact.

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Ed T
Date: 15 May 15 - 02:21 PM

L'ardoise is pronounced Lordways, and Port Mouton, is pronounced "Port Matoon" in Nova Scotia Canada. And, don't forget that Musquodoboit, Nova Scotia is locally pronounced "Musk-a-dob-it".

In Nova Scotia, Dalhousie University is pronounced "Dal-how-is-e". In tge same country, in Ottawa, Dalhousie Street is prounced "Dal-who-s-ie". Go figure.

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Lighter
Date: 15 May 15 - 02:15 PM

The "catastrophe/apostrophe" quote first appeared in Reader's Digest in 1987.

It was credited not to Lewis Carroll but to one "Doug Larson."

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 15 May 15 - 01:59 PM

and Arkansas, for some lunatic reason is pronounced Arkansaaw???

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Ed T
Date: 15 May 15 - 01:34 PM

Why don't people speak properly? 

Maybe because many folks drive "caaws" in "Boston"?.

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 15 May 15 - 04:26 AM

"If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur".
Wonderful - made my day, though it sounds more like Gary Larsen
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: michaelr
Date: 15 May 15 - 01:25 AM

Quite a list there, Bill... I didn't check whether it includes my top trifecta of palate, palette, and pallet. I find these three frequently used as though they were interchangeable in the media I read.

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Bill D
Date: 14 May 15 - 10:25 PM

Why don't people speak OR write properly?

Because they aren't taught.. or forget... or ignore things like this

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Raggytash
Date: 14 May 15 - 12:07 PM

My sentiment exactly meself. Pot, Kettle, Black come to mind.

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: meself
Date: 14 May 15 - 11:58 AM

Actually, the combination of the title of this thread with the content of the Original Post seems to be a perfect example of what the Original Poster is complaining of. If I understood the Original Post correctly. If you follow me.

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Ed T
Date: 14 May 15 - 08:01 AM

"Every individual is at once the beneficiary and the victim of the linguistic tradition into which he has been born - the beneficiary inasmuch as language gives access to the accumulated records of other people's experience, the victim in so far as it confirms him in the belief that reduced awareness is the only awareness and as it bedevils his sense of reality, so that he is all too apt to take his concepts for data, his words for actual thing".
Aldous Huxley

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Ed T
Date: 14 May 15 - 07:58 AM

"If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur".
Doug Larson

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Raggytash
Date: 14 May 15 - 07:11 AM

I think the question should be "why do people not speak correctly"

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 13 May 15 - 09:59 PM

If you read the first post (always a good idea), you will see that the subject is not how to speak but how to communicate. Two different things.

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: An Pluiméir Ceolmhar
Date: 13 May 15 - 07:09 PM

I think there's the makings of a largely-over-50-Mudcat-not-even-purist-why-can't-they-just-just-talk-proper-English? gathering here.

But first we need to decide in which continent it should be held, before zoning in (sic) on a pacific (sic) country.

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 13 May 15 - 06:54 PM

Thanks Michaelr but not what was baffling me above (not to say I know my way around DADGAD) is more or less standard tuning. Sometimes the low E might get dropped to a D but I think that's it.

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: michaelr
Date: 13 May 15 - 06:28 PM

Jon - for "those subtle chord changes used in Irish music" look into DADGAD tuning; that's likely what you're hearing. It is my theory that the tuning was invented so that it would be easier for guitarists to approximate jazz-inflected piano chords.

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 13 May 15 - 05:32 PM

I'd probably jumped too much on (sort of) "pimping rigs", backwoodsman. If you can improve the tone or make it more comfortable to play, I don't think I'd be calling it wrong.

I did fairly recently fit an Ottenger tali piece to a tenor banjo and sometimes dabble with a low end Yamha Pacific electric with a Roland MIDI pickup on it so I'm not against mods/dabbling/experimenting.

On some of my post, I think I was more reflecting that even with the off the peg cheap Jay Turser, I am more limited than it.

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 13 May 15 - 04:25 PM

Jon, I enjoy doing a bit of 'personalisation', but I understand that others don't necessarily feel the same - I guess it's 'each to his own'. 👍🏻

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 13 May 15 - 02:16 PM

I don't think I've tried to modify guitars. My cheap Jay Turser does me as is. I've old Fylde Falstaff that needs restoration (bellied up 15-20 year ago and action is high). Only thing I felt inclined to do with it is try different strings - I like the D'Adario 85/15). I'm happier with GDAE tuning on mandolins, etc. but can get guitar through at least a few session paced melody lines like St Annes's reels with a pick and finger pick a freight train. One thing that really defeats me I'd lke to do is finding those subtle chord changes used in Irish music. It's me than the guitar that (if it a correct term...) that needs upgrading/pimping.

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: gnu
Date: 13 May 15 - 12:54 PM

Yeah, Ed. That's a good tune. It's also the name of a Facebook group. I prefer Canadians Rallying To Unseat Stephen Harper (CRUSH). Last time I looked, there were over 23k members. The sheer volume of posts is staggering. One gets a LOT more news and in depth analyses than one gets through traditional media. Party bashing, name calling and such are edited out... posts must be approved. I recommend it.

Say, if you need a list of Senators compiled in email format, I have one I can PM to you. Here is the text of my last letter (four replies in less than a day and only one "fence sitting" reply which said, paraphrasing... I am trying but it's an uphill battle; three said they will vote 'no'; the one from Senator Art Eggleton had a detailed responce)...

Subject: Bill C-51

Dear Sir/Madam,

Shred it.

Thank you for your time and for your effort in this regard.

Sincerely,

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 13 May 15 - 12:49 PM

I've pimped all of my gits. 😜
Slotted the bridges, fitted Antique Acoustics solid pins, installed Waverly tuners, buffed the necks and head stocks, installed K&K pickups, yadda yadda yadda.

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Ed T
Date: 13 May 15 - 12:37 PM

Can you understand tge message in this song, gnu? (Beware, graphic Canadian content)

:)



Heave Steve 

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Musket
Date: 13 May 15 - 11:08 AM

I pimped a guitar last month, if it helps.. Brass bridge pins to be precise.

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 13 May 15 - 10:47 AM

"uptalk" is often born of uncertaintly. By turning a sentence into a question, the teenager is checking in with you, to make sure you are listening and that you understand what she is saying.

Be human. Make eye contact and let her know you are interested in what she has to say. That is, unless you are the kind of person that's glued to your electronic device. In which case, what are you doing on this thread?

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 13 May 15 - 05:01 AM

Possibly the one that most had me turning some shade of purple was in a thread elsewhere. It was on computer upgrades and people wanted to "pimp their rigs".

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Will Fly
Date: 13 May 15 - 04:28 AM

Language and the speaking of it changes constantly, and one main problem with that change is knowing whether to try and fight it, or whether to accept it - gracefully or otherwise.

The word "decimate" has been used in a wrong sense for many years now - "wrong" in that the original meaning of "to decimate" was to destroy 1 in every 10. Now it's more usually used in the sense of destroy the majority - say 9 in every 10. But you knew that, of course. Am I bothered? Well... irritated, I suppose, but resigned.

However, I must be very old fashioned because I'm also irritated by the modern way "research" is pronounced in the UK. The most common way now is "REE-search" - as opposed to the 'correct' and original "re-SEARCH". Similarly, I'm irritated by people who say "for-MID-able" - as opposed to "FOR-midable".

Sad, innit?

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: Lighter
Date: 12 May 15 - 03:40 PM

> "Why do you sing when you talk? It's rude and annoying. Speak like a human, please."

What could be ruder than a question like that?

More people should sing when they talk. It might make their conversation more interesting.

More info - though awkwardly presented:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_rising_terminal

I never heard "uptalk" while growing up in the U.S. Northeast. By the early '70s (before "Valspeak") it was endemic in parts of the South, perhaps especially, as Wikipedia says, among high-school and college women.

My own guess is that the interrogative rising pitch substitutes for an unspoken question like "Do you follow me?" "Is that correct?" or the dreaded and therefore suppressed, "Ya know?"

Subject: RE: BS: Rant... why don't people speak properly?
From: gnu
Date: 12 May 15 - 03:05 PM

"they all turn up the last couple of words at the end of their sentences" I ask them, "Why do you sing when you talk? It's rude and annoying. Speak like a human, please."

GUEST,leeneia Date: 12 May 15 - 12:32 PM... not a hope. Hahahahaaa. The problem is, some people will NEVER answer. They ONLY ask questions in response to questions. That is the crux of my biscuit... rant.