What are your pet peeves re English usage?

interjecting with non word grunts eh?

you sure she's interviewing?

fayre..yes agreed extremely annoying. You see it all the time at Christmas....its not fair.

Yep - there's a webcam

Yes, you're right, it is supposed to be "Olde Englishe" and traditional, witty and worthy, but its effect is just lame and false and pathetic.
In my humble opinion.

Dear Goodfielder

I have heard «ungyon» in England also. It is common in the South London and East London accents.

Kind regards,

Goldmund

I've never heard ungyon and hope I never will.

Re. Fayre. I agree, this is most annoying, along with "Ye Olde Tea Shoppe".

If one went into an Olde Tea Shoppe and spoke "Ye Olde Englishe" to the staff, they wouldn't have a bloody clue as to what one was saying.

especially if you ordered an old englishe ungyonne

Cartoon in the New Yorker Magazine many years ago: A pretentious-looking storefront with the name
Ye Olde English Tea Shoppe letterd on the awning. Hung on the door a hand-lettered sign which reads Wette Painte.

Learned something new and interesting atte the weekend

There was never a Y in Ye Olde ....

It was a thorn, the old symbol for the TH sound.

So it was always TH, never Y.

(Information from Roderick, the man who knows)

I knew that. 'Ye' is pronounced 'the'.

How many people, I wonder - deal with the english language as a JOB, a way to make money? How many people deal with english ... as a way of life? or is it just (sorry, ANOTHER) excuse to have one over on the ... minority?

Speak your own goddamn language - see what happens.

As an interpreter for the US Department of State (English/Latvian, Latvian/English) as well as a translator for those two languages, I deal with the language as a JOB (to use your own capitalization) a lot. Since I also teach Social Studies, and have taught English at the secondary school level, that, too, is a JOB. What's your point, arji?

My point, actually, is that you see that grammar is not so important.

How many lanuages can you express yourself in, merry?

I have a conversational familiarity with German, a tourist's acquaintance with French and Spanish. English is not my first language.

Your point is well taken. Grammar is important only if you wish to sound highly educated or -- and this is important -- in writing. I also do Latvian-to-English translation for the US government from time to time. Nobody takes you seriously if you make egregious grammatical errors in writing. But as for simple person-to-person communication, sometimes an ungrammatical sentence or expression comes across better than "proper" grammar. In fact, many time you will sound more like a native speaker if you intentionally misuse the language just like the natives do!

I write poetry in languages other than my native english. <shrugs>

I think it allows me to express myself less literally. <shrugs>

what's your native language, out of curiosity?

Latvian, of course.

Of course?

Well, yeah, if you read my first post.

Didn't, sorry. I'm horrible that way.

We have a Latvinian here?

I never knew that ma

always thought you were English/American

Can you please have a word through your contacts and arrange special Father Christmas presents?

Done, Steve. A special sleigh of Latvian libations and Daugava sole (much better than Dover sole) is on the way. Should arrive Thames-side right around 25th December.