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31 Jan 13 - 03:15 PM (#3473975) Subject: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Little Hawk Okay, people, I've had enough. February is about to begin again, as it does each year, and there appears to be not one living soul in my entire region...apart from myself...who can pronounce the word "February" properly. As it is written. It's incredible. Even highly educated people can't seem to manage it for some reason. They mostly say "Feb-you-ary", and I bet that's how you say it too. Then there are a few poor souls who say "Feb-oo-ary", which really sounds awful. What is so flipping hard about saying Feb-roo-ary??? (The way it's supposed to be said.) Why can people not manage it? I figure that any of you could manage it if you just took a careful look at the word, separated it into its 3 syllables, and pronounced them one at a time. Let's try it. ;-D Okay. First just say, "Feb". Feb. You managed that okay, didn't you? Now just say "Roo". Like the last part of "kangaroo". Just say "Roo". That's the middle part of "February". How are we doing? Okay, now say "ary". It rhymes with "cherry". That part comes last. Are you still with me? Now say them slowwwwly, one after the other... Feb....roo...ary. Keep saying it. Feb...roo...ary. PRESTO!!! That's all there is to it. Seriously. Just say Feb...roo..ary a few times. Now speed it up a little bit. Feb-roo-ary. Speed it up just a tad more. You can DO this! February!!! Join the absolutely tiny number of people left in the English-speaking world who can manage to pronounce the name of the 2nd month in the year properly. Who knows, you might even get to meet the Queen someday if you manage this! I'm quite sure she does not say "Feb-you-ary". And if she does....well! I shall simply have to give up what little faith I have left in this decaying culture. It's Feb-ROO-ary. Amen. |
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31 Jan 13 - 03:24 PM (#3473979) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Ebbie Oh ye of little faith. I have said FebROOary most of my life and I am not alone. |
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31 Jan 13 - 03:26 PM (#3473982) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: pdq My vote for the "most universally mispronounced word" is dissect. |
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31 Jan 13 - 03:38 PM (#3473994) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Joybell I say it correctly too, Little Hawk. Count me in for a visit to the Queen. AND I always put the "m" in the name of the town near us. Warrnambool. Nobody else does. Mind you it's not the only town that's mispronounced. We were travelling through Missouri, a few years back, and the radio announcer told us we were in Bleville. Blytheville it said on the sign. My Truelove was born in Marivul in the same state. So he says. Cheers, Joy |
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31 Jan 13 - 03:40 PM (#3473995) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Little Hawk Good for you, Ebbie! Want to move to my town and improve the situation here? pdq - The preferred pronunciation of "dissect" appears to be dih-sect with the accent on the final syllable, but most people I've heard using the word say "dy-sect"...with the long "i" sound. |
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31 Jan 13 - 03:41 PM (#3473996) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Little Hawk Good going, Joybell! There is yet hope for the English culture. |
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31 Jan 13 - 03:46 PM (#3474001) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: JennieG Of course it is Feb-roo-ary.....and library has two r's, it's not libry....says she who worked in libraries for over 30 years, so knows how to pronounce it. Also, the country in which I live is Aust-ra-lia - not Austraya, or heaven forbid, Straya. Sports people can be among the worst; why should you be allowed to represent your country overseas if you cannot pronounce it correctly? Cheers JennieG, Language Pendant and proud of it! |
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31 Jan 13 - 04:02 PM (#3474009) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Bill D People who live places are often the worst, Jennie.. You need to visit Balmer or Nawlins or even N'Yawk to get the full impact. (I have a long list of favorite errors... maybe another thread sometime.) |
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31 Jan 13 - 04:35 PM (#3474018) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Bee-dubya-ell I dodge the issue by avoiding saying "February". It's my least favorite month and I figure that by not mentioning it by name, it'll go away more quickly. |
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31 Jan 13 - 05:01 PM (#3474030) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: GUEST,999 Leap years must be hell on you, BWL. I've always said the roo thing in February. But then I'm from the one in ten English speakers who says hwat, hwen, etc. |
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31 Jan 13 - 05:25 PM (#3474043) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Seamus Kennedy And remember: it's CHOL -MOND - LEE, not "Chumley". And FEATER - STONE - HAW, not "Fanshaw". |
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31 Jan 13 - 05:26 PM (#3474044) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Seamus Kennedy Oh, and while I'm at it: Jan - ROO - ary. Most people misspell it and omit the first "r". |
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31 Jan 13 - 05:40 PM (#3474054) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: John on the Sunset Coast Much ado about nothing. You know which month they mean. My mother (rest in peace), a reasonably well educated woman, could not properly pronounce "poor"...she always pronounced it as the sound made by a contented cat. My wife, also well educated, cannot properly pronounce "wolf" (as in the animal or Blitzer); it always comes out "woof". But my favorite all-time story about mispronunciation goes back to when I was in high school. My buddy's mom could not pronounce "al-loo-mi-num", always asking for, say, "aloonium foil". One time her son corrected her for the umpteenth time and she, in frustration, blurted, "Goddam it, Raymond, you know I can't say al-loo-mi-num!" And to my knowledge she never ever did again. Bruce, add me to your list of "hw" speakers. |
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31 Jan 13 - 05:44 PM (#3474059) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Will Fly And - while we're at it - do so many people in broadcasting say "sikth" when they really mean "sixth"? And as for "decimated" - don't get me started! So many people use it for almost total wipeout when it means one in ten wiped out... |
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31 Jan 13 - 05:59 PM (#3474065) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: freda underhill Febree - great! betta get moving! |
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31 Jan 13 - 06:28 PM (#3474075) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: wordfella Those are all pretty--um--furmiliar. |
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31 Jan 13 - 06:41 PM (#3474083) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Jack the Sailor Nice dick shun airy ya got there Seamus. |
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31 Jan 13 - 07:15 PM (#3474096) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: JohnInKansas And next we move on to jewrely ... (Three separate commercials on my TV recently where they can't pronounce it - repeated 5 or 6 times per day each for the past couple of weeks.) But maybe not as bad as when the local college announced their new "school of enterperneurship and ran the same commercial for TWELVE YEARS before anyone at the U noticed it was sorta spelt rong. John |
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31 Jan 13 - 07:36 PM (#3474107) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: kendall Ok, LH, how about Wed nes day? Will, you're a man after me own heart. "That storm just decimated the whole forest! Here are a few commonly mispronounced words. Particularly Arctic Antarctic Orangutan Nuclear What bothers me most is, why do I give a damn? |
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31 Jan 13 - 07:38 PM (#3474109) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: GUEST,ketchdana It might help some of us pronounce the month as if it were broken up so: Feh-brew-ary (or if you prefer, Feh-broo-ary), though there is now the tendency towards: Fe-brew-(r)ary li-breh-ry seems to nat'rally break up with the "br" together. (Shouldn't say "us", I mean "I" do it thus.) |
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31 Jan 13 - 08:22 PM (#3474127) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Rapparee I call it the Most Important Month of the Year. That's because I was born on the eleventh day of the Most Important Month of the Year, which is of course the Most Important Day of the Year in the Most Important Year in the History of the Earth. Send expensive presents. |
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31 Jan 13 - 09:39 PM (#3474166) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: JennieG Arks instead of ask.....as in: Arks your mother for sixpence to see the big giraffe, He puts his head between his legs and whistles up his...... Arks your mother etc...... Just thought I would lower the tone a little. Cheers JennieG |
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31 Jan 13 - 09:46 PM (#3474169) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Rapparee Oh, Jennie, you needn't do that! The tone around here is already about as low as it can get -- subsonic, in fact. |
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31 Jan 13 - 10:01 PM (#3474178) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Ebbie "JennieG, Language Pendant and proud of it!" lol I hope you wrote that TIC. I love it- either way. In a couple of linguistic courses I took, I was told that Americans saying'hwen,hwat, hwere, hwale,' rather than 'wen, wat, wale', etc, meant that their formative years had been spent west of the Rocky Mountains. |
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31 Jan 13 - 10:32 PM (#3474189) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: GUEST,marks(on the road) Proper pronunciation? You are just axing too much. |
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31 Jan 13 - 10:38 PM (#3474190) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Little Hawk I'm not sure what is the most officially correct version of "Wednesday". Everyone around here pronounces it either "Wens-day" or "Wed'ns-day". |
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31 Jan 13 - 10:43 PM (#3474192) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: GUEST,leeneia I'm irked more by people who use extra sallylables. Definitive, when they mean definite. Reverential, when they mean reverent. Differential, when they mean different. Orientated, when oriented would do. |
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31 Jan 13 - 10:53 PM (#3474198) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Janie Ya'll folks need to get lives for yerselves. Seriously. At least fer any of yas that have a serious gripe about this. For example. I know how Febrooary is supposed to be pronounced. But it still ain't the way I larned it and old habits that got instilled at about the time I learned to talk die hard. I got more important and pressing things to do and to think about than to remind myself for a solid month to pause, think, and overcome the programming that results in Febyouwary passing my lips rather than Febrooary. Ha! from the Mariam Webster on-line dictionary: Dissimilation may occur when a word contains two identical or closely related sounds, resulting in the change or loss of one of them. This happens regularly in February, which is more often pronounced \ˈfe-b(y)ə-ˌwer-ē\ than \ˈfe-brə-ˌwer-ē\, though all of these variants are in frequent use and widely accepted. The \y\ heard from many speakers is not an intrusion but rather a common pronunciation of the vowel u after a consonant, as in January and annual. So relieved to know that in at least some respects, I'm normal. Now, if ya'll will excuse me, I gotta go tend to my very close veins. If they cause much discomfort I get high blood and my sugar dibes gets a bit cattywhomped. Ya'll may snicker and call me ignorant, which am true, but you still get my drift, right? |
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01 Feb 13 - 12:04 AM (#3474216) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: JennieG Well, Ebbie.....sort of TIC! Almost.....nearly..... Before retirement made my life much happier I spent 25 years working in school libraries, and by heavens if you want mangled language schools are the place to go. Like whoa...... Cheers JennieG |
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01 Feb 13 - 09:56 AM (#3474399) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Little Hawk Yeah, but what's the ruling on "Wednesday"? |
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01 Feb 13 - 10:09 AM (#3474408) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: pdq Janie's post seem to help explain why "something" becomes "SUMP-thing". |
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01 Feb 13 - 10:12 AM (#3474409) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Stilly River Sage Little Hawk, I pronounce the month and the day (February and Wednesday) correctly, AND I don't say the name of my home state as "Warshington." SRS |
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01 Feb 13 - 12:28 PM (#3474460) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Uncle_DaveO Ebbie said: In a couple of linguistic courses I took, I was told that Americans saying'hwen,hwat, hwere, hwale,' rather than 'wen, wat, wale', etc, meant that their formative years had been spent west of the Rocky Mountains. They tawcha rong, Ebbie. I was never west of the Rocky Mountains until I was 37 years old, and it's always been hwen, hwair, hwat, etc. I'm from Minnie-soda, y'know. Dave Oesterreich |
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01 Feb 13 - 12:43 PM (#3474472) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Bill D Fighting "orientated" is hopeless. I've tried for 20 years. |
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01 Feb 13 - 12:45 PM (#3474473) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Wesley S Damn Canadians trying to teach us Americans how to talk. They probably don't know how to say "fixin'" or "y'all".Not to mention "Sumbitch". I think it's about time we started building that fence across our northern border. |
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01 Feb 13 - 12:54 PM (#3474476) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: GUEST,TIA I am expecially peeved by realators and athaletes who say "nukular". It is the heighth of ignorance, and they should of been punished by cancelling their birfday parties. |
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01 Feb 13 - 01:01 PM (#3474481) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Steve Shaw Febry or FEByooerry round here. I am expecially peeved by realators and athaletes who say "nukular". It is the heighth of ignorance Yes, I also find this to be a strange phenomena too. How quickly language can deteriate! |
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01 Feb 13 - 02:29 PM (#3474525) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: kendall TIA, shouldn't that be Height? I visited Orient beach in St. Maartin. Not Orientated beach. :-) Even here, spell check says I spelled Maartin wrong! |
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01 Feb 13 - 02:33 PM (#3474527) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Steve Shaw OK, I'll blurt it out. Alternate instead of alternative. Sheesh. |
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01 Feb 13 - 03:36 PM (#3474562) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: fat B****rd On Wensdee Febyuarie da sikth al bash anybody in the libree who sez nucular. Just thought I'd join in. |
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01 Feb 13 - 04:02 PM (#3474573) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Bert Pronunciation is a regional thing. The Febyooary pronunciation is very common in London which is of course the home of the definitive version of the Language. Now I'm going to go and byoo some beer. Have some Wooster Sauce old chap. |
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01 Feb 13 - 04:45 PM (#3474592) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Donuel If I make it through February I'll be good for the year. Our family typicaly has castastrophic februaries. So what god is Feb. named after??? |
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01 Feb 13 - 05:03 PM (#3474594) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: pdq "The Roman month Februarius was named after the Latin term februum, which means purification, via the purification ritual Februa held on February 15 (full moon) in the old lunar Roman calendar. January and February were the last two months to be added to the Roman calendar, since the Romans originally considered winter a monthless period." BTW, Augustus and Julius Caesar were not true gods either. |
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01 Feb 13 - 05:16 PM (#3474600) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Donuel Minnie-soda oh jeez. My friend Robbie Generic lives there doncha no. |
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01 Feb 13 - 05:53 PM (#3474616) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Little Hawk I should probably also mention that "Tronna" is not the right way to pronounce Toronto... ;-) |
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01 Feb 13 - 07:18 PM (#3474646) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: freda underhill We all speak a different dialect. Language is a living thing. nothing is correct. |
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01 Feb 13 - 07:24 PM (#3474648) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: JennieG LH, it's not? Well, well.....you mean those nice Torontonians we met were having a lend of us when they told us how to pronounce the name of their fair city? Now that I've learnt how to say it does this mean I will have to unlearn it? Cheers JennieG |
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01 Feb 13 - 07:41 PM (#3474653) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Little Hawk That's true. But "Tronna" is not so much a case of dialect as it is of sheer vocal laziness, in my opinion. Lazy ear and lazy tongue! (It's easier to just mumble two indistinct syllables than it is to clearly pronouce three. Much mangling of language appears to derive from this cause...vocal laziness, combined perhaps with not very attentive listening.) Thus, in the modern day ghetto, the term "allright" has become merely..."'ite", and "do you know what I'm saying?" has become "know'msayn'?" (often added unnecessarily after every 2nd or third phrase, which causes its original purpose...brevity...to be defeated by repetitive redundancy!) Likewise, "the neighborhood" is harder to say than "the hood", "Fro" is easier to say than "Afro", and "chair" is easier to say than going to the trouble of saying "chairman"...or the utterly ridiculous "chairperson". In the latter case, however, we have mangling of language not through laziness, but through a desperate attempt to offend no one. So we have reached the silly point in our culture where we call a chairman a piece of furniture in order to avoid possible gender-based misinterpretations and complications....and we now call actresses "actors" for some other silly damn reason along the same lines...thus causing the truly lovely word "actress" to vanish from usage. This does not help the cause of gender equality one bit, as far as I'm concerned, it just lessens the beauty and variety of the English language. No wonder Chongo thinks Chimps are smarter than humans! |
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01 Feb 13 - 07:47 PM (#3474655) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Little Hawk JennieG - Yes, there are quite a few vocally lazy Torontonians too! ;-) And many of them do habitually call the place "Tronna". Still, the rest of us joke about Americans who say "Tronna", anyway. Joking about American tourists has been keeping Canadians amused ever since the late 1700s. |
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01 Feb 13 - 08:05 PM (#3474665) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: pdq About Australians and their roos... A Cajun was enjoying an extended vacation in Australia. He had rented a nice apartment with full cooking facilities. He found a young lady and invited her to diner. He offered to cook what Cajuns are famous for: gumbo. Everything as going fine until she asked him what he was doing with flour and oil in a frying pan. He replied: "I'm cooking a ru". Before grabbing her stuff and stomping out the door, she yelled "how could you do that to an adorable creature!". |
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01 Feb 13 - 08:36 PM (#3474676) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Steve Shaw Have some Wooster Sauce old chap. Tsk. Woostershire Sauce, purleeease! |
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01 Feb 13 - 09:34 PM (#3474706) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: gnu "Yeah, but what's the ruling on "Wednesday"?" Yer sayin it wrong. ""Tronna" is not so much a case of dialect as it is of sheer vocal laziness, in my opinion." Wrong agin.... we say "Tronna" as a matter of disrespect. When we say "T O", we mean Toronto. "Tronna" means Centre of The Universe Smug Bastards. Dontchya speak Canuck? EH? |
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01 Feb 13 - 11:10 PM (#3474731) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Little Hawk But, Rap...almost everyone in Canada hates Toronto too...even a lot of the people who live there! So maybe you're right. Maybe it is a matter of disrespect. What most people around here refer to Toronto as (colloquially) is "The Big Smoke"....or as you say: T.O. |
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01 Feb 13 - 11:20 PM (#3474736) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: gnu Who is Rap? |
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01 Feb 13 - 11:45 PM (#3474741) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Little Hawk Rapparee. |
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02 Feb 13 - 01:52 AM (#3474760) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: JennieG Perhaps "actress" could be replaced with "actrine"? A local film reviewer uses that term, I suspect he made it up. Cheers JennieG |
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02 Feb 13 - 04:15 AM (#3474773) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Will Fly Very many professions/trades use just one word for the practitioner - without regard to the gender of the practitioner: Doctor, dentist, lawyer, engineer, counsellor, librarian, nurse... But the stage gave rise to "actor" and "actress" - why, I wonder? Like "waiter" and "waitress". The world of the arts also has "artist" and "artiste". Hmmm... must try out "dentiste" sometime... "Barman" and "barmaid" specifically mention the gender - but I must say I prefer those terms to "barperson". And I have the same opinions as Little Hawk, on the change of terms used for those chairing a meeting. The illogicality of language is part of its fascination. |
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02 Feb 13 - 06:21 AM (#3474786) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Don(Wyziwyg)T ""The world of the arts also has "artist" and "artiste"."" That's a case of misuse in both directions. Originally, an "artist" is a person who puts paint on canvas, or produces works of art such as miniatures. An "artiste" is a performer in art forms such as music, or theatre. "Artiste" is not the feminine form of artist, nor are they interchangeable. The one that currently has me hurling abuse at the telly is "incidences", when the speaker means "incidents". As English Language and Literature were my main subjects both in grammar school and college, I have an affection for the correct use of both grammar and pronunciation. The way the language is being dumbed down, with hardly a sign of opposition from educators, infuriates me. Don T. |
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02 Feb 13 - 06:23 AM (#3474787) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Don(Wyziwyg)T BTW, you can add me to the Feb-r-uary group LH. Don T |
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02 Feb 13 - 08:35 AM (#3474811) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Steve Shaw The Guardian style guide abandoned "actress" long ago. |
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02 Feb 13 - 08:35 AM (#3474812) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: McGrath of Harlow There's a justification in "chair" as reflecting the idea that it's a formal role rather than an individual. When you "address the chair", it's not a personal conversation. Unless maybe you are Clint Eastwood. I get annoyed at the creeping presence of "formidable" with the stress on the second syllable rather than the first. No real reason I should, but it feels like it's being imposed. |
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02 Feb 13 - 09:43 AM (#3474824) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Steve Shaw Do what I do and stress the third. ;- Pretentious, moi? |
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02 Feb 13 - 03:23 PM (#3474944) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: GUEST,TIA "Thus, in the modern day ghetto, the term "allright" has become merely..."'ite", and "do you know what I'm saying?" has become "know'msayn'?" (often added unnecessarily after every 2nd or third phrase, which causes its original purpose...brevity...to be defeated by repetitive redundancy!)" Why does this remind me of J-Roc? |
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02 Feb 13 - 04:18 PM (#3474966) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Steve Shaw "Thus, in the modern day ghetto, the term "allright" has become merely..."'ite", and "do you know what I'm saying?" has become "know'msayn'?" (often added unnecessarily after every 2nd or third phrase, which causes its original purpose...brevity...to be defeated by repetitive redundancy!)" When our beloved daughter was a teenager many moons ago, her friends would ring her up on our house phone. One day, I picked up the phone and it was for her. Clearly, she regarded the call as a private one, so she seized the handset and exclaimed "Go vroom!" Translated, this meant "I will go into the other room!" Ever since then, the "other room" in question has always been "vroom". We noted on another occasion, when she'd picked the phone up for herself, the greeting to her friend, "I awhite awhite?" Apparently, this is best rendered as "I'm all right. Are you all right?" The missus and I have greeted each other thus ever since. |
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02 Feb 13 - 04:23 PM (#3474969) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Steve Shaw "Comprised of" always gets on me tits. The woman who does the Any Answers phone-in said it today: "The panel was comprised of..." And next time you hear a newsreader, listen to them referring to the "pry minister" and ask yourself who they could possibly be talking about. Big Brother, perhaps? |
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02 Feb 13 - 06:25 PM (#3475013) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: gnu I have been shat upon in the past as this is considered 'okay'.... Try and do. It's... Try TO do. I do not care if it is acceptable to try and do. It is illogical and it is not unacceptable. It is not English. It may be "commonly accepted" but that isn't acceptable. |
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02 Feb 13 - 08:13 PM (#3475053) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Little Hawk Okay...if "shat" is the past tense of "shit", then what is the past perfect of shit? "Has shut"???? |
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02 Feb 13 - 08:17 PM (#3475059) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Steve Shaw Has shit. |
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02 Feb 13 - 08:29 PM (#3475066) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Steve Shaw Well gnu, I'm with you 110% ;-) but I fear you're fighting a losing battle. Once a construction becomes common parlance, we're stuck with it, generally speaking. Horrible things such as "alright", "try and", "hopefully" and "disinterested" (for "uninterested") are so often written or spoken that it's hardly worth fighting on the retreat. They will eventually become standard English whether we like it or not. Certain things I find utterly unacceptable and I'll go to me grave fighting 'em. They mostly come under the category of "people of semi-literate tendencies trying to use clever words". I will fart in your general direction, for example, if you ever use "albeit" or "prior to". |
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02 Feb 13 - 08:36 PM (#3475072) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Little Hawk Prior to giving consideration to your very cogent thoughts upon the matter, Steve, I had thought it was perfectly alright to say "albeit" now and then...albeit not everyone does. Some are merely disinterested. Some take a more negative stance and are uninterested. Regretfully, this keeps happening. Hopefully, we will see a point where more than 110% of us have reached agreement on exactly what we should try and do about it. ;-) |
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02 Feb 13 - 08:58 PM (#3475090) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Steve Shaw :-) "Albeit" is an inane and pretentious construction which has easy alternatives (try "but" or "although"). I hardly ever come across the use of the term "prior to" where "before" wouldn't have been much better and far less pretentious. I think we're stuck with "hopefully" for ever. "Alright" is a more interesting case. We don't, after all, raise an eyebrow over "already" or "altogether". Mind you, there are useful distinctions between "all together" and "altogether", and between "all ready" and "already". There's the potential for a similar distinction between "all right" and "alright", as long as the distinction is defined along consciously literate lines. |
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02 Feb 13 - 09:08 PM (#3475094) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Steve Shaw Just thought of another one that strikes me as utterly inane, yet is now the norm and is no longer worth fighting. "Thirty miles an hour". I mean, "an hour"? What's that about? Wassup with "thirty miles per hour"? |
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02 Feb 13 - 09:43 PM (#3475106) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: gnu Steve... yup. But I rail against reality for the sake of my sanity. I detest inane and illogical conversation with brain dead children (adults are far more aggravating) who cannot speak.... speak... in a clear and precise way when they engage in meaningful conversation*. In my posts, I engage my native tongues and lapse into slang and common usages but not in serious discourse unless it is germane and appropriate in my opinion. When I say 'de arse is gone right clean uttover, dats what I means eh? The affront that I speak of has nutting ta do wit dat dere eh wha? I means, English is English and if she ain't logical den why's some buddy b'y gotta say she's become common usage and I gotta take dat... eh?.... eh? *The next time someone answers my question with a question I shall not be able to post herein for a while. The earliest... when I make bail. |
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03 Feb 13 - 06:32 AM (#3475188) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: JennieG Steve, isn't there a song which includes the words "Well - I was going round the curve doin' ninety miles an hour......."? The rest of the words, and the song title, are eluding me - but it is just on my bedtime, after all. Cheers JennieG |
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03 Feb 13 - 02:20 PM (#3475338) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Bert It may be "commonly accepted" but that isn't acceptable. I love it gnu! |
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03 Feb 13 - 02:46 PM (#3475347) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Bill D "Wreck of the Old 97" ♫They were goin' down the grade, makin' 90 miles and hour, When his whistle broke into a scream.."♫ He would never have written '90 miles per hour'.. literary freedom over technical propriety... --------------------------------------- "...the utterly ridiculous "chairperson"." I have always thought that a better word would be 'convenor' as used in the song The Kirk Soiree "My business grew so rapidly and so did my renown That soon I was elected to the council o' the town And they made me the convenor o' the sewerage committee For the story I had started at the kirk soiree" I gather that the term is commonly used in Scotland for church business, if not even more widely. |
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03 Feb 13 - 06:08 PM (#3475414) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: gnu Sure as shit uttava a goose it is, Bert! I mean, if common usage sets precedent then I wants nere an atche where there's a hatche and I wants a hatche where there's nere an atche. That might not be the Queen's English but one ell ova lotta er subjects talks like that eh? Rules? Pffffft! ANARCHY RULES! |
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03 Feb 13 - 10:41 PM (#3475476) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: McGrath of Harlow One of the great things about English is it's got so so many words nearly meaning the same but with subtle differences in how and when they fit. Albeit and although are cases in point. Cutting down this kind of proliferation of language would be cultural and linguistic vandalism. and that goes for trying to stop the process continuing - though it can't be done anyway. What's a bit different is when we attempt to preserve those kinds of subtle differences, as when we might object to blurring the difference between rebut and refute. |
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03 Feb 13 - 10:53 PM (#3475479) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: catspaw49 Y'all about whuppped up on this. Yeah, the things that make a person look "ignernt" may drive me nuts but local phrasings and the spoken word? C'mon....Gimmee a break. I really love to hear the way a word is said by the locals and at times it might be respectful to just go with it instead of making fun of it! I love to hear Ed Schultz on MSNBC do the commercial about growing up. He went to Maury High School in Norfolk, Virginia. Ed says, "Mah-ree high school in Nawfuck." On the other hand, some of them piss me off. This one was on Facebook the other day and the woman nailed it. The word is Ap-uh-lattcha NOT Ap-uh-laysha. You owe it to folks in a region, or a state, or a city, or a street, to say it right! Where I grew up there was a Tussing Road. We said TOO-sing because that was what the family used and I went to school with several of them. When I came back to Ohio after 15 years that area had grown and now they said Tuh-sing. I corrected someone and they corrected me right back. So I REALLY corrected them. It wasn't a pleasant scene..... A popular expression in the south and especially the Carolinas is "carry." "I had my Dadddy carry me down to the Piggly Wiggly." First time I heard that in college I had a vision a the guy riding piggy back to the grocery store. If someone was a homosexual, he was a queer (kweer). No problem, just like we all say it. But if a guy did something odd, it was a queer(kwair). A bit different. Berea opened my eyes a lot. It seemed the I was the one with the funny accent.......I spoke "right kwair" at times. You can tell where you are in Ohio by how they say the name of the state. Every state tends to have local words and phrases that aren't attuned to our ears but it is to theirs......and we adapt. Except in Maine.....First time I went to Maine I was looking for a college friend and his wife who had just moved in and I had lost the phone number. Ended up at the Police station and spent the next 20 minutes in conversation........or something. Most of it wasa him speaking and I'd say, "Huh?" Then I would speak and he'd say "Huh?" Spaw |
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04 Feb 13 - 12:03 AM (#3475490) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: JennieG That's it, Bill - thank you! Cheers JennieG |
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04 Feb 13 - 11:11 AM (#3475667) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: GUEST,strad Don't think "You know" has been mentioned yet! Completely and utterly superfluous. A number of highly (over)paid people use it to excess - know what I mean? |
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04 Feb 13 - 06:47 PM (#3475845) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Steve Shaw There is no difference between "although" and "albeit". Not the merest shade. "Albeit" is an outmoded word which always marks the user out as a pretentious clown. The decline of "albeit" was a natural process (which appears to have gone into reverse, lamentably, thanks to the efforts of the meretriciously-trendy chattering classes), hardly surprising when you consider that its presumed origin, "although it be", is not only somewhat awkward and ungrammatical in itself but also has the words giving rise to its bastard offspring in the wrong order. On top of that, it sounds awkward and it certainly looks awkward in print, almost demanding an unnecessary split-second's mental processing. "Although" is a lovely, elegant word, correctly used. Innit. |
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04 Feb 13 - 06:57 PM (#3475847) Subject: RE: BS: Feb-ROO-ary!!!! From: Steve Shaw Just spotted on a thread elsewhere some wag suggesting that if "albeit" is OK then the plural, "albethey", should be equally acceptable. :-) |