What are your pet peeves re English usage?

But Walter, aren't there a lot of English words (Neudeutsch) in German?

And they're often used in a novel way, too....e.g. "Handy".

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Well, 'handy' is one of the so-called pseudo-anglicism whose origins is unknown (besides the time when it was used for the first time, namely by by the Loewe phone factory in 1992).

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Walter, the English-speaking world has appropriated Blitz almost exclusively as an abbreviation of Blitzkrieg. A 'blitz' of anything is an onslaught ... in English, that is.

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Yes, that's right.

Even cleaning a house: "Let's blitz it!" Very useful.

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A blitz visit is more appropriate if you look at its real meaning; we would say a lightning visit.

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I know someone who consistently comes out with nonsense words and sentences.

There have been SO many but a few that have stuck in my head are'

"the water there tastes dry......."

"he turned a blind ear to me........"

"samson" instead of "Samsung"

"Mini Coupe" instead of "Mini Cooper"

"Where is Europe?"

I am not joking.

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I HATE it when people say

"Bless...."

Twisted Evil

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Sometime I say daft things, just to be daft, and people (my brother especially) hate it.

Keep your ear to the grindstone.

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Dorothy Parker wrote:

I HATE it when people say

"Bless...."

yes very irritating. Usually prefaced by "Ahhh...

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Clary wrote:

A blitz visit is more appropriate if you look at its real meaning; we would say a lightning visit.

Interestingly, before the British invented the term, a 'lightning war' was unknown in German.

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Until the age of ten, and being brought up on the Victor and Dandy comics serialising world war two, I thought that the entire German vocab consisted of three words.

"Aach!" "Schweinhund" and "Himmel".

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Walter Hinteler wrote:

Clary wrote:
A blitz visit is more appropriate if you look at its real meaning; we would say a lightning visit.

Interestingly, before the British invented the term, a 'lightning war' was unknown in German.

Pull the other one, Walter.

I'm going to google this, wrap it round a Speckwurst, and pummel you over the head with it.

:wink:

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Here comes that Erstewurstschlag

...

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The English wiki-author should have looked at what his German colleague wrote ... correctly (e.g. rthat Hitler noted, Blitzkrieg was an Italian invention, a translation from Italin, it was published in that magazin in 1938, ... ) :wink:

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battle of Cambrai 1917

Quote:

The attack was duly launched at dawn on the morning of 20 November 1917, with all available tanks advancing across a 10 km front. 476 tanks were accompanied by six infantry and two cavalry divisions (the latter to exploit any breakthrough), plus a further 1,000 guns. 14 newly formed squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps stood by - a forerunner of the blitzkrieg tactics employed to great effect by the German army during the Second World War. Notably the attack was not preceded by a preliminary bombardment, helping to ensure complete surprise.

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psssst, McTag. Loved your hashed metaphor about the grindstone. "If you have ears prepare to shed them now." Razz

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I hate

"believe you, me"

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Dorothy Parker wrote:

I hate

"believe you, me"

Such a lot of hatred in one so young and fair. :wink:

"Believe you me" is a bit old-fashioned now, is it not? I don't mind it.

How about "to be honest...."? The inference being, I'm not usually honest?

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Steve 41oo wrote:

battle of Cambrai 1917

Quote:
The attack was duly launched at dawn on the morning of 20 November 1917, with all available tanks advancing across a 10 km front. 476 tanks were accompanied by six infantry and two cavalry divisions (the latter to exploit any breakthrough), plus a further 1,000 guns. 14 newly formed squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps stood by - a forerunner of the blitzkrieg tactics employed to great effect by the German army during the Second World War. Notably the attack was not preceded by a preliminary bombardment, helping to ensure complete surprise.

And that quote proves hwat, you say :wink:

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talking about "blitz" , in canada being "blitzed" means being drunk and out .
i guess it's like being struck by a "blitz" Laughing

i wonder if it has any connection with the american words "white lightning" - hardly ever used in canada , i believe .

Quote:

blitzed
An adjective, used when one is heavily under the influence, most often alcohol or marijuana.

"We were absolutely blitzed after finishing off that case of beer."

Quote:

Basics of Bootleggin' and Moonshinin'
Here are the basics....a bootlegger is a person that sells illegal whiskey and a moonshiner is a person who makes the whiskey illegally. Moonshine goes by many names such as:
corn liquor
white lightning
sugar whiskey
skull cracker
popskull
bush whiskey
stump
stumphole
'splo
ruckus juice
rotgut
catdaddy
mule kick
hillbilly pop
panther's breath
tiger's sweat
sweet spirits of cats a-fighting
alley bourbon
city gin
cool water
happy Sally
blue John
jump steady
see seven stars
old horsey
block and tackle
wild cat

"blitz`is also used in the advertising lingo , such as blitzing a certain category of consumers - overwhelming with advertising .

and canvassers may use it to describe to canvas or blitz a neighbourhood - which usually causes us to lock the door Shocked

.

hbg

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What are your pet peeves re English usage?

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