What are your pet peeves re English usage?

Mame wrote:

Clary wrote:

We also use a long I in privacy And I know you Brits don't, but you're wrong I tell you, WRONG!!

So is your place of easement a pr-IVY? I think it's probably a privvy.

0 Replies

George wrote:

I say short-lived with a long "i". Anybody else do that?

No, i don't. And i had it out with a snooty and snotty "language maven" on a radio call-in show on that topic once. I used the short "i" because it is the past participle of to live. We don't say that Abraham Lincoln "l-eye-ved" in the 19th century. I think this is just an affectation of supercilious nattering nabobs of linguistic negativism.

0 Replies

Setanta wrote:

George wrote:
I say short-lived with a long "i". Anybody else do that?

No, i don't. And i had it out with a snooty and snotty "language maven" on a radio call-in show on that topic once. I used the short "i" because it is the past participle of to live. We don't say that Abraham Lincoln "l-eye-ved" in the 19th century. I think this is just an affectation of supercilious nattering nabobs of linguistic negativism.

Long "i"? I think maybe that pronunciation came from a misunderstanding, from the reasoning that someone who had a short life was short-life-ed

0 Replies

Setanta wrote:

I think this is just an affectation of supercilious nattering nabobs of linguistic negativism.

And I'm not sure what to think after that. What was the other phrase you came up with set? the phrase I said I would employ at every opportunity? anyway SNNOLN probably surpasses...well done. Night all late(ish) here.

dear oh dear its only just past half past nine, am I gettin old? ok I hear ya.

0 Replies

McTag wrote:

...Long "i"? I think maybe that pronunciation came from a misunderstanding, from the reasoning that someone who had a short life was short-life-ed

I don't think it's a misunderstanding.
Someone who had a short life was short-lifed.

...and we prefer to be known as an effete corps of impudent linguistic
snobs, I'll have you know, Mr. Setanta.

0 Replies

Sorry George, i do want to give your your props . . .

Steve, i don't recall now, but i think it referred to incompetence.

I was shamelessly ripping off one of the speech writers in Nixon's White House. They used his first Vice President, Spiro Agnew, as an attack dog, and a fledgling speech writer, one day to become a respected journalist, William Safire, came up with that gem ("nattering nabobs of negativism") for Agnew to use as an attack on a hostile press.

0 Replies

McTag wrote:

Mame wrote:
Clary wrote:

We also use a long I in privacy And I know you Brits don't, but you're wrong I tell you, WRONG!!

So is your place of easement a pr-IVY? I think it's probably a privvy.

Of course it's a privy, McT - but it's a PRI-vate one Unless you pronounce 'private' the way you would a 'privet' hedge????

0 Replies

Setanta wrote:

George wrote:
I say short-lived with a long "i". Anybody else do that?

No, i don't. And i had it out with a snooty and snotty "language maven" on a radio call-in show on that topic once. I used the short "i" because it is the past participle of to live. We don't say that Abraham Lincoln "l-eye-ved" in the 19th century. I think this is just an affectation of supercilious nattering nabobs of linguistic negativism.

Quote:

short-lived

USAGE NOTE: The pronunciation [long i] is etymologically correct since the compound is derived from the noun life, rather than from the verb live.

http://www.bartleby.com/61/46/S0364600.html

0 Replies

JTT wrote:

Setanta wrote:
George wrote:
I say short-lived with a long "i". Anybody else do that?

No, i don't. And i had it out with a snooty and snotty "language maven" on a radio call-in show on that topic once. I used the short "i" because it is the past participle of to live. We don't say that Abraham Lincoln "l-eye-ved" in the 19th century. I think this is just an affectation of supercilious nattering nabobs of linguistic negativism.

Quote:

short-lived

USAGE NOTE: The pronunciation [long i] is etymologically correct since the compound is derived from the noun life, rather than from the verb live.

http://www.bartleby.com/61/46/S0364600.html

Oh yeah? Sez who? I suppose the compound long-lasting comes from a piece of shoemakers' equipment?

0 Replies

Mame wrote:

McTag wrote:
Mame wrote:
Clary wrote:

We also use a long I in privacy And I know you Brits don't, but you're wrong I tell you, WRONG!!

So is your place of easement a pr-IVY? I think it's probably a privvy.

Of course it's a privy, McT - but it's a PRI-vate one Unless you pronounce 'private' the way you would a 'privet' hedge????

I can see I'm about to lose this argument, so I'll only say that pronunciations are irregular and regional, and Americans are wrong.

0 Replies

JTT -- Bartleby's may be quite right in pointing out that the long i pronunciation in long-lived is "etymologically correct." But you're usually among the first to point out that etymology has little to do with common useage and that useage generally trumps etymology by a wide margin.

0 Replies

Merry Andrew wrote:

JTT -- Bartleby's may be quite right in pointing out that the long i pronunciation in long-lived is "etymologically correct." But you're usually among the first to point out that etymology has little to do with common useage and that useage generally trumps etymology by a wide margin.

And my position hasn't changed one little bit, Merry. I only showed that both were possible. Was there something I wrote in that posting that led you to believe I was discounting the short i pronunciation, the very pronunciation that I've used my entire "longlifed" life? Smile

0 Replies

Btw: In America, the word privy, when used to mean a place of easement, places that place out of doors.

http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/misc/privy/priv_img.jpg

I always thought privy was a slang term derived from privacy, but then I was given information prior to which I was not privy. It was brought to me by the High Sheriff from the Office of the Privy Council and wasn't my face red?

Joe(I also thought for a time that Omar Shariff was a cop)Nation

0 Replies

McTag wrote:

I can see I'm about to lose this argument, so I'll only say that pronunciations are irregular and regional, and Americans are wrong.

Careful, there! I know you Europeans like to lump all of us North Americans into one category, that of Americans, but we Canadians are quite particular about this - we are not Americans, we are Canadian! Razz

0 Replies

Mame wrote:

McTag wrote:

I can see I'm about to lose this argument, so I'll only say that pronunciations are irregular and regional, and Americans are wrong.

Careful, there! I know you Europeans like to lump all of us North Americans into one category, that of Americans, but we Canadians are quite particular about this - we are not Americans, we are Canadian!

Yes of course, silly me, sorry. Embarrassed

0 Replies

Hey, no problem, McT :wink: Everywhere I've been in Europe, people call us Americans, even after we say we're from Canada Smile

0 Replies

Canadians are Americans, just as Mexicans are Americans--they're just not citizens of the United States.

We in the United States accept and understand that Canadians cannot correctly pronounce schedule, nor correctly spell center--it's one of those things which makes them so cute.

0 Replies

Mame wrote:

Hey, no problem, McT :wink: Everywhere I've been in Europe, people call us Americans, even after we say we're from Canada

Well, yes - we had a couple of Canadian barracks here, and the soldiers were from America as well :wink:

0 Replies

Setanta wrote:

Canadians are Americans, just as Mexicans are Americans--they're just not citizens of the United States.

We in the United States accept and understand that Canadians cannot correctly pronounce schedule, nor correctly spell center--it's one of those things which makes them so cute.

Well, not to split hairs or anything, but....

You may be right, technically, but I've never heard anyone refer to a Mexican as an American, have you?

Likewise, a Chilean would not be referred to as an American, would he? He'd be more generally referred to as a South American, would he not?

By the same token, we Canadians consider ourselves North Americans, not Americans. Big difference.

0 Replies

Mame wrote:

Setanta wrote:
Canadians are Americans, just as Mexicans are Americans--they're just not citizens of the United States.

We in the United States accept and understand that Canadians cannot correctly pronounce schedule, nor correctly spell center--it's one of those things which makes them so cute.

Well, not to split hairs or anything, but....

You may be right, technically, but I've never heard anyone refer to a Mexican as an American, have you?

Likewise, a Chilean would not be referred to as an American, would he? He'd be more generally referred to as a South American, would he not?

By the same token, we Canadians consider ourselves North Americans, not Americans. Big difference.

Not really that big a difference, Mame. While I don't think I've ever heard a North American refer to a Mexican as an American, I do know that some Mexicans get irritated when a US citizen says he's an American. They are likely to reply, "Yoi tambien. Su esto Norte Americano.." (Or close that; my Spanish has grown awfully rusty through disuse.)

0 Replies

What are your pet peeves re English usage?

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know