What are your pet peeves re English usage?

JTT wrote:

Congratulations on reaching page 300!

Not bad for a thread that was predicted to die a quick death.

Yes. I wonder what happened to Ailsa (our founder)?

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This has to do with pronunciation, but it came up on a TV show that I was watching:

forte
This word, meaning "strong point," from French fort, meaning "strong," can be pronounced with one syllable, like the English word fort, or with two syllables. The two-syllable pronunciation, (fôr´t´´), is probably the most common in American English, but some people dislike it, arguing that it properly belongs to the music term forte from Italian. I say "fort" for strong point, and "forte" for loud in music.

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I say forte (for-tay) for both

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McTag wrote:

I say forte (for-tay) for both

Me too.

Saying someone's strength is their forte (fourt) sounds somehow too abrupt for my ears, (fort-tay0 softens the word but adds to the depth of the meaning.
Beats me as to why, just my upbringing I guess.

It has the opposite effect when I hear forte (for-tay) applied to music. There I see the conductor's baton turn into a hammer--- forte, forte, forte, mas mas mas fortissimo! But not just louder, the music gains mass and strength and volume. The air gets thick with music.

Joe(my forte is made of sand)Nation

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I'm with McTag and Joe.

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ditto on the for tay.

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Just the same, I have heard a piano called a pianofort (with the emphasis on the first two syllables, PIANOfort).

But that's not common here, and I wouldn't say that myself.

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McTag wrote:

Just the same, I have heard a piano called a pianofort (with the emphasis on the first two syllables, PIANOfort).

Actually, piano is just short for pianoforte (invented in Florence by B. Cristofori before 1720) :wink:

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Walter Hinteler wrote:

McTag wrote:
Just the same, I have heard a piano called a pianofort (with the emphasis on the first two syllables, PIANOfort).

Actually, piano is just short for pianoforte (invented in Florence by B. Cristofori before 1720) :wink:

Funnily enogh, that news had previously reached Scotland. Smile

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Do you mean to say that a piano and a pianoforte are the same? I always thought the latter referred to the concert size grand pianos and the former applied to everything else, the uprights, mom's baby grand, etc.

No?

Joe(Is a guitar a ukeleleforte?)Nation Laughing

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No, they are the same.

Although I would not put it past these devious Americans to assign different meanings, as in the world of automobiles, say:

sedan, coupe, can't think of any more

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Joe Nation wrote:

Do you mean to say that a piano and a pianoforte are the same?

Yes :wink:

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Joe Nation wrote:

Do you mean to say that a piano and a pianoforte are the same? I always thought the latter referred to the concert size grand pianos and the former applied to everything else, the uprights, mom's baby grand, etc.

No?

Joe(Is a guitar a ukeleleforte?)Nation

Standing hard on the loud pedal (yes, I know it's a sustain)

The word piano is a shortened form of the word pianoforte, which is seldom used except in formal language and derived from the original Italian name for the instrument, gravicèmbalo col piano e forte (literally harpsichord with soft and loud). This refers to the ability of the piano to produce notes at different volumes depending on how the keys are pressed. Harpsichords have non-touch-sensitive keyboards.

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McTag wrote:

gravicèmbalo col piano e forte

Dont tell me you have pet peeves in music and italian now McTag Wink

Must just recall this story from my trip to France. Went out to dinner with my cousin's husband retired music teacher. Pizza restaurant called Vivaldi in Chambery. We study the menu (somewhat pizza encrusted, which has musical instruments and small snippet of sheet music ...about 3 bars...on the front). Peter looks concerned...waiter asks what he wants...he says

"That's never Vivaldi...! Its Shubert's piano concerto...."

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My goodness. Well, at least I revived the thread. <smile> I was being a bit purist, I guess, but years in broadcasting "tuned" me in to pronouncing stuff in its strictest interpretation; however, it's the sound that really matters. Does anyone still refer to the piano as a well tempered clavier?

Who knows what we devious Americans will come up with next.

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Steve 41oo wrote:

"That's never Vivaldi...! Its Shubert's piano concerto...."

I think, Vivaldi tasts a lot different to a Schubert as well! (They only sell Mozart this year around here, due to the anniversary)

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letty :
is this clavier well tempered ?
(in german it's called a 'fluegel' - a wing Very Happy

)
hbg

http://www.klavier-service.ch/img/fluegel.jpg

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Amazing, hamburger. So many different names for so many different instrutments. Here, they call it a baby grand or a GRAND piano.
"pianissimo"pi·a·nis·si·mo (p-ns-m) Music

In a very soft or quiet tone. Used chiefly as a direction.
n. pl. pi·a·nis·si·mos
A part of a composition played very softly or quietly.

Razz

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How many of you piano people know what the middle pedal is for?

And how does that relate to a fact about Irving Berlin?

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middle pedal = vibrato?

Irving berlin = who?

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What are your pet peeves re English usage?

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