What are your pet peeves re English usage?

Wy...

Quote:

Wolf -- a valiant effort to drag the posts back to the topic!

Hear hear. I second that. No more bird-sh*t in this thread, please.

http://www.liquidninjas.com/bbs/images/smilies/klan/cool.gif

0 Replies

herberts wrote:

Yoo-hooo... ? Anybody hoooome... ?

McTag's Little Helper...

Thanks herbie, an interesting and valuable resource.

0 Replies

McTag wrote:

Wy wrote:
Wolf -- a valiant effort to drag the posts back to the topic! I'll try to help.

.....

By the way, is "peeves me off" BritSlang for the US version, "ticks me off"?

No it isn't. I believe that to be a misquote/ misnomer.

We normally say "it pisses me off"

Hey let's make a list- slang UK expressions for this: I'll start

It gets my goat
it gets right up my nose
it gets right on my tits

He's right. I meant to type in pisses me off.

0 Replies

Going back on these threads a couple of years, I probably peeved this peeve before, but I heard another example on BBC radio today, which grated.

I dislike unnecessary prepositions being added, American-style, e.g.

check out
finish up
luck out
listen up

and there are hundreds more.

They are okay for normal conversation, but on BBC Radio 4 News?

0 Replies

So you objection is the "Americanization" of speech in your nation?

0 Replies

Quote:

check out
finish up
luck out
listen up

Sometimes they have different meanings, though; e.g.

1. Check this invoice (I think I've made a mistake).
2. Check out this invoice (did we really spend that much?).

MrP

0 Replies

I love Americanisms and ghetto-talk. It's not compulsory and you can be selective - but If it wasn't for the endless creativity of American-English from both their white, black and Jewish communities - the English language of Britain and Australia would have long-since become semi-petrified as a language whose glory days of poetic invention and work-mongering had long since past.

Plain English is useful as a utility for giving orders and understanding instructions and conducting business - but it's to American-English that we go to if we want to be exprssive and kiss a bit of ASS!

http://www.liquidninjas.com/bbs/images/smilies/plauder/laughing.gif

0 Replies

Just think of all the memorable phrases and words of the past 20-years - 90% of them are straight out of the Hollywood scripting-mill.

0 Replies

I meant to write KICK a bit of ass!... but in all the excitement it came out as 'kiss'.

Very Happy

0 Replies

Setanta wrote:

So you objection is the "Americanization" of speech in your nation?

Yes that is so, and I don't know why exactly. It makes it looser and more homogenous, I suppose, less distinctive. I value the distinction and differences.

I like the lighter side of American writing from Twain to Mencken, Perleman, Dorothy Parker- not too modern, I admit- but I don't think even thay would use some of these clunky modern expressions.
Would Hunter Thompson, P J O'Rourke? Only in reported speech, I think.

0 Replies

herberts wrote:

I love Americanisms and ghetto-talk. It's not compulsory and you can be selective - but If it wasn't for the endless creativity of American-English from both their white, black and Jewish communities - the English language of Britain and Australia would have long-since become semi-petrified as a language whose glory days of poetic invention and work-mongering had long since past.

Plain English is useful as a utility for giving orders and understanding instructions and conducting business - but it's to American-English that we go to if we want to be exprssive and kick a bit of ASS!

I agree with that in general, and it seems to be important to keep the language "fresh" by adopting new words and expressions...the useful ones stick around (there's an American one right there (there's another)) while the others fall by the wayside.

0 Replies

herberts wrote:

I love Americanisms and ghetto-talk. It's not compulsory and you can be selective - but If it wasn't for the endless creativity of American-English from both their white, black and Jewish communities - the English language of Britain and Australia would have long-since become semi-petrified as a language whose glory days of poetic invention and work-mongering had long since past.

Hooly Dooly!
Havin a bit o sepo in the lingo is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!
d'ya reckon or what mate.

0 Replies

I did of course mean 'word-mongering' - not 'work-mongering'.

Speed-typing is not always a good idea...

0 Replies

I used to dislike the expression "kiss my ass". But one day a lovely lady told me that.. and I did..what a wonderful experience! It changed my way of considering language...

0 Replies

Nice story, Francis. You'll have to write your memoirs one day - all about that wine-stained mattress of yours in the garret that you rent in the seedier part of Montmartre on the Right Bank.

We know all about those rich middle aged American widows who arrive in Paris in the summertime to look for a little Gallic southern comfort to distract them from their recently-acquired solitude...

Wish I could be there to help you. They like the 'stayers' - the long, lazy, half-hour jobs from aging Lotharios like me...

http://www.xtrememass.com/forum//images/smilies/1110/naughty.gif

0 Replies

herberts wrote:

I love Americanisms and ghetto-talk. It's not compulsory and you can be selective - but If it wasn't for the endless creativity of American-English from both their white, black and Jewish communities - the English language of Britain and Australia would have long-since become semi-petrified as a language whose glory days of poetic invention and work-mongering had long since past.

Plain English is useful as a utility for giving orders and understanding instructions and conducting business - but it's to American-English that we go to if we want to be exprssive and kiss a bit of ASS!

It seems a bit excessive to consign the English of 60 million people to the dustbin of linguistics. After all, this is the week in which "Two Jags Prescott" spontaneously transmuted into "Two Shags Prescott".

(But I suppose other people's clichés always seem more interesting than your own.)

MrP

0 Replies

Watched a creature feature night before last and questioned one of the character's pronunciation of zoology. She said ZOO instead of ZO. Rather surprised me that it got passed the editors.

0 Replies

It is zoo-ology. There are two nations of people who haven't a bloody clue how to pronounce English words correctly - the Americans and the Australians.

Cool

0 Replies

Letty wrote:

Reference > American Heritage® > Dictionary

zoology

SYLLABICATION: zo·ol·o·gy
PRONUNCIATION: z-l-j, z-
NOUN: Inflected forms: pl. zo·ol·o·gies
1. The branch of biology that deals with animals and animal life, including the study of the structure, physiology, development, and classification of animals. 2. The animal life of a particular area or period: the zoology of Alaska; the zoology of the Pleistocene. 3. The characteristics of a particular animal group or category: the zoology of mammals. 4. A book or scholarly work on zoology.
OTHER FORMS: zo·olo·gist —NOUN

Perhaps I misread the pronunciation guide, herberts.

Ever the lady.

The troll is, of course, wrong.

Beware what you feed it.

0 Replies

What are your pet peeves re English usage?

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know