What are your pet peeves re English usage?

@aidan,

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Because any American English speaker would not phonetically spell the name David as Devad.

Any, or most American speakers would not necessarily phonetically spell any of the words I spelled as I spelled them, Aidan. That was the point.

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@JTT,

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Kan't keyp you're thawts strait,

Maybe not necessarily - but almost certainly most of them would pronounce those words as you spelled them as most Americans pronounce them (except for 'thawt').
Anyway - you said 'knackered' on another thread. I think you're British.

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We have got a footballer over here called Aaron Lennon.

Now I was brought up pronouncing that first name as Ae-ron.
But our commentators say R-on.

Which do you prefer?

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@McTag,

In German, we say R-on. But we say Dahveed as well, so it doesn't count. Wink

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@McTag,

If I were to use the name for my son, being American, I'd prefer to call him Aeron. But I can hear (in my mind) someone saying R-on with a Celtic lilt- it's just what you're used to.

I grew up hearing Imogen pronounced Eyemogene. Now that sounds weird to me as everyone here says I(short i) mo jen.
Now that sounds better to my ear and Eyemogene sounds cumbersome and countrified.

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@Walter Hinteler,

And yo-na-tan.

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@aidan,

We always struggled with coal-in Powell.

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@McTag,

I did too. Coal-in is spelled colon and it's where solid waste is processed in the human body.
I think it's a West Indies interpretation- not that it's wrong or bad- but maybe his mother wasn't familiar with what the word and pronunciation were and meant in American English.

The standard male name most similar is Collin (or Colin) (short o) and it means poet.

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@aidan,

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Anyway - you said 'knackered' on another thread. I think you're British.

Damn, I should have picked something more neutral like kerry packered.

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@JTT,

You're British AND you're from London.... Laughing

My first British neighbor is a native Londoner so I learned all about rhyming cockney - trouble and strife (wife) Adam and Eve (believe) apples and pears (stairs)...

The funniest and most coincidental thing is is he was my daughter's first British PE teacher - an Elvis impersonator AND even more of a Bruce Springsteen fan than I am...

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@OmSigDAVID,

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I was in hi school, at the age of 15;
it was by a young lady who complained of my failure to have taken sufficient notice of her.

Young ladies are usually very observant and given to blurting out the truth. As they get older they learn more to hold their tongue. It certainly doesn't mean that you were not a snob in the interval between these honest appraisals but merely that you have sought the sort of company that restrains itself in these delicate matters.

I hope you took her heavy hint and didn't go off sulking. It was an invitation.

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How do you define "uneducated" Dave?
I define it as: ignorant, uninformed, devoid of knowledge.

That won't do at all Dave and I'm surprised you think it will. In fact it is completely stupid.

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That has never happened,
other than in your imagination. Therefore, I have done nothing.

Well--it won't happen if you restrict your company to the mutual back-scratchers. Actually it just did happen. I was laughing.

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The question that u raise entails a comparison of schools.
That has never happened either, in my experience.
I gather that u r particularly sensitive on this point, Spendius; a sore spot.
If I 'd thawt that I 'd hit a nerve, I 'd not have brought (brawt) it up.
Don 't take it too hard.

The usual get out. I wasn't comparing schools. I was looking at your posts. They are striking in respect of revealing the paucity of your education. You have a fairly small vocabulary and very trite manner of expression plus an affectation regarding something of no importance. I have no sore spots no particular sensitivities and no nerves. Hence I won't be taking anything too hard. You are getting into gb's tummy tickling there old boy. Arranging you own conclusion so to speak.

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Note that I have not treated u with disdain.
Will u agree that there r people who merit disdain, Spendius * ?

I hadn't even hinted that you have treated me with disdain. Nor would I care if you had.

I might treat something someone says or does with disdain but I would never treat the person in the same way.

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That shoud be whose, Spendius, "not who 's".
( . . . I 'm sure that does not reflect upon the quality of your education. . . . )

My education is the cause. I was brought up to use "who's" and although I know that modern usuage is for "whose" I still find it vaguely unacceptable. Partridge says you are correct. But referring to people,as I was, I find "whose" a bit disrespectful. I have no idea why. I will try harder.

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I have been a rather skeptical fellow, since my first years,

Beware of skepticism. It can corrode. I know. It's not all that cool. You don't seem to have the condition all that bad to me.

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@aidan,

aidan wrote:

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I have heard people who are native spanish speakers
pronounce the name Dahveed

That 's true; thay do.
That 's the name rendered in Spanish.

David wrote:

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David is one of those names that are/ (is?) pronounced exactly as it's spelled.
That's probably one reason that David enjoys being named David.

I am grateful to my mom for naming me David.
I told her so, also, many decades ago.
( I 'd have changed it, if I didn 't like it. )

I was lucky.
I 've known guys whose names annoyed them,
e.g. another lawyer I knew named Rodney.
I consoled him, reminding him of Rod Serling et al.

I suggested that he change it, if it bothers him too much.
He is morally entitled to a reasonably happy life.
Everyone is.

Hhhmmmm; maybe I 've been too hard on JTT.
He really can 't help it if he is mentally incapacitated.

David

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@spendius,

spendius wrote:

Quote:

I have invariably found that people who really, really, really take themselves seriously make such remarks
as that all the time as if they have, by doing so, . . .

This is a concept that I 've never understood.

I understand the wisdom of not taking OTHERS too seriously,
but it seems to me that everyone shoud take himself very seriously,
to improve himself -- that what he is, is of the utmost importance.

Will u reveal your thawts upon the concept of taking yourself seriously, Spendius ?
or too seriously, if such a thing is possible ?

David

1 Reply

@aidan,

aidan wrote:

My first British neighbor is a native Londoner so I learned all about rhyming cockney -
trouble and strife (wife) Adam and Eve (believe) apples and pears (stairs)...

Will u explain what those mean, Rebecca?
We all know the reason for the strife wife, since that has too ofen ended
in homicide, after much unpleasantness, but the others ?

What has fruit to do stairs, etc. ?

David
P.S.:
In the future, if u hear me utter a NY accent,
I 'll appreciate it if u apprise me of it,
for my information.

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@spendius,

Spendius wrote:

Quote:

Young ladies are usually very observant and given to blurting out the truth.
As they get older they learn more to hold their tongue.

Please note that thay don 't all share one tongue.

Spendius wrote:

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It certainly doesn't mean that you were not a snob in the interval between these honest appraisals

It does not address the issue.
In point of fact, I have been relatively approachable,
as a general rule. However, when I have found someone 's manner
or personality annoying, I have avoided contact.
I exercise my right to avoid people I dislike (sometimes).
If that be snobbery, let us make the most of it !

Spendius wrote:

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but merely that you have sought the sort of company that restrains itself in these delicate matters.

Yeah; polite people.

Spendius wrote:

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I hope you took her heavy hint and didn't go off sulking.

I m not much of a sulker.
(That was good for a chuckle.)
We had time, and we discussed the subject
of snobbery at some length. I explained that I had not snobbed her.
I described it as "minding my own business."

Spendius wrote:

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It was an invitation.

The invitation was explicit.

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How do you define "uneducated" Dave?
I define it as: ignorant, uninformed, devoid of knowledge.

Spendius wrote:

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That won't do at all Dave and I'm surprised you think it will.
In fact it is completely stupid.

I 'm surprized that u claim that something is "stupid"
without revealing the reason that u hold that opinion.
My opinion of u is too hi to believe that u will reply:
"because it is."

(I am fairly confident that a dictionary will support my 3 definitions.)

David wrote:

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That has never happened,
other than in your imagination. Therefore, I have done nothing.

Spendius wrote:

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Well--it won't happen if you restrict your company to the mutual back-scratchers.

the company of POLITE people
As an Englishman u r supposed to know about politeness.

Spendius wrote:

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Actually it just did happen. I was laughing.

1. I don 't believe u.
2. If u did, then u stand in my debt.

David wrote:

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Note that I have not treated u with disdain.
Will u agree that there r people who merit disdain, Spendius * ?

Spendius wrote:

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I hadn't even hinted that you have treated me with disdain.
Nor would I care if you had.

I might treat something someone says or does with disdain
but I would never treat the person in the same way.

I take a different vu.
A man can earn disdain.

David wrote:

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I have been a rather skeptical fellow, since my first years,

Spendius wrote:

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Beware of skepticism. It can corrode.

HOW ?

Spendius wrote:

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I know. It's not all that cool.
You don't seem to have the condition all that bad to me.

U 'd be surprized.

David

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@OmSigDAVID,

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Will u reveal your thawts upon the concept of taking yourself seriously, Spendius ?

The facts of life dear boy--the basic facts of life.

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@OmSigDAVID,

What does "devoid of knowledge" mean? Dead I suppose.

Ignorant of what? Uninformed about what? Are you searching for your doppleganger?

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@OmSigDAVID,

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As they get older they learn more to hold their tongue.

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Please note that thay[sic] don't all share one tongue.

Another fine example of your illogic, OmCig.

Haven't got around to fixing up 'tongue' yet? Not to worry. You should have no trouble finding someone else to carry on your important work - gunga maybe.

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@spendius,

spendius wrote:

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What does "devoid of knowledge" mean? Dead I suppose.

All that is dead, insentient, and inanimate is devoid of knowledge.
All that is devoid of knowledge is not dead.

spendius wrote:

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Ignorant of what? Uninformed about what?

U requested a definition; I gave it to u.
Thay r relative words,
concerning whatever the subject matter of their environing sentence is.
The ignorant person is knows not the matters whereof he is uneducated.

spendius wrote:

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Are you searching for your doppleganger?

That s a strange and incomprehensible question,
assuming that I have one.

David

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

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All that is devoid of knowledge is not dead.

Can you provide an example?

1 Reply

What are your pet peeves re English usage?

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