What are your pet peeves re English usage?

I'm spending entirely too much time thinking of why Brits go to hospital and Americans go to the hospital.

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Because we mostly have a choice of hospital?

Mind you, our lawyers are called to the bar. Cool

But then they take silk.

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But, our lawyers are just lawyers, not barristers or solictors and they wear neither wigs nor gowns. That's because we don't have a Medieval court tradition.

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But, our lawyers are just lawyers, not barristers or solictors and they wear neither wigs nor gowns. That's because we don't have a Medieval court tradition.

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So do you say COMparable or comPARabale?

I say the former

Do you say CONtroversy or conTROversy?

I say the former

Do you say CONtractor or conTRACtor?

I say the former

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Mame wrote:

So do you say COMparable or comPARabale?

I say the former

Both, I'm afraid

Do you say CONtroversy or conTROversy?

I say the former

latter

Do you say CONtractor or conTRACtor?

I say the former

latter

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Yep, it's official - you're from GB Smile

We Cdns seem to be half and half; half UK in our speaking and spelling and half American (oh, there's that word again!)...

But I'm so used to the British shows we get here (yes, we have BBC Canada !!) that I understand conTRACtor, even though it sounds weird (read WRONG!! lol) to me.

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My father, a Classics teacher and stickler about language, always said that CONtroVERsy was 'better' than 'conTROversy'; and that COMparable beat comPARable. I have to admit I've never heard CONtractor, even find it difficult to say. And my particular beef, that conTRIBute beats CONtriBUTE.

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Sounds good to me.

What about anti? Why ann-tie? Smile

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A bit like quas-EYE for the Americans perhaps
Lots of them say anti like us though Very Happy

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McTag wrote:

Sounds good to me.

What about anti? Why ann-tie?

All too many Americans also say Eye-raq and Eye-ran. Grates on my ears but it's become so common it's almost standard now.

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Ooh yes, hate that! Eye-Rack... might as well say Aim-ricker

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What's worse is EYE-talyun. I usually hear that from old Yankees here in NE who think unless you are white, Protestant and of English (Scots and Welsh are acceptable; Irish is not) origins, you are barely worth a nod.

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Clary wrote:

My father, a Classics teacher and stickler about language, always said that CONtroVERsy was 'better' than 'conTROversy'; and that COMparable beat comPARable. I have to admit I've never heard CONtractor, even find it difficult to say. And my particular beef, that conTRIBute beats CONtriBUTE.

ooops, I say CONtroversy Smile

but also say ant-ee, so guess I'm half okay Smile

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No, my father would have thought you totally OK!

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I'm still in a snit -- more like a rage, actually -- over hearing and seeing BBC, NPR and the Boston Globe using the word "translator" when they clearly mean "interpreter." Doesn't anyone know the difference any more?

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I'd go a navy (NATO) licence generations ago to interpret up to medium difficult talks and translate up to nearly (sic!) difficult texts.
(Same as for military attachés.)

No one actually bothered about that - I suppose, the didn't want to set up a committee judging about those difficulties in advance :wink:

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The above response reminds me of the day when I made my "exams":

at first, it was in a nearly totally unknown part of the garrison and hard to find - so I just called a car Laughing

And when I entered the waiting room, there were four staff officers (lieutenant commander and higher).
They seemed to be pleased that someone wanted to take care of them ... and ordered me to bring some coffee.
They believed, I was the stewart Laughing

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Walter, you old barsteward...did you bring them the coffee?

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No, of course not.
I was ... I had ... I mean, you get some routine how "to take care" of officers when you'd had a good apprenticeship as popil re teachers :wink:
(I was later told my my commanding officer - who heard that story in some officer's mess - that even without knowing it was me, I had been his first choice.)

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What are your pet peeves re English usage?

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