What are your pet peeves re English usage?

Howdeedoo, Ma'am.

Isn't real language fascinating? Isn't it just incredible how we can express so much just by modulating that stream of air that flows from our mouths?

Hereabouts, we use the ****-load as an expression of large quantity.
I think that's probably a vulgar modern americanism, but it's fun to use.

Special Australian Beer Section
A 'Tinny' is a 375ml can of beer.
A 'Throwdown' is a 250ml bottle of beer.
A 'Stubby' is a 375ml bottle of beer.
A 'Longneck' is a 750ml bottle of beer.
'Slabs'
pots
pints
middies
schooners
ponies

distance
a piece
a far piece
a jaunt and a half
gnat's ass
a long block
nudge
nugde
a short block
hair
nose
C****Hair
Black C****Hair
Red C***Hair
Blond C***Hair
Smoot
2nd star to the right, straight on til morning.

Number
gazillion
Eleventeen

Temperature
Room Temperature

Chili Specific
One Alarm
Two Alarm
Three Alarm
cripesomighty

General non-specific
Friggen *
helifino
you judge




* I'm thinking that the friggen may need its own special category because of its universality of use. As Adrian pointed out, something can be heavy or friggen heavy, it can be late or early, or friggen late or friggen early, it can be friggen hot or just a warmer day than usual. The question arises: is there a word that friggen cannot easily modify? I think not.
Consider this: The man said that the measurement was off by a smidgen, a friggen smidgen, that's what stopped the project in it's tracks.

(thanks to Adrian, Aftermath16ComputerWhiz, Acquink, Bi Polar Bear , Cinnesthesia, colorbook, ehbeth, George, Jespah, Lash, Merry Andrew, OristarA, Ossobuco, Panzade, Region Philis TryAgain. and Wy )

Smidges and skoshs and such here

Joe( good'n plenty)Nation

Joe, anyone,

Do you have any idea where 'skoshs' came from? Is that the only spelling?

EDIT: Answered my own question. It's from Japanese 'sukoshi'.

A: Sushi wa suki desu ka. [about sushi, do you like it?]

B: Dai suki, dayo! [I really like it, I assure you.]

A: Shiokara wa. [What about salted fermented squid innards?]

B: Sukoshi dake. [only a little.]

I was first told that the New England "skosh" had been in use since the days of the Yankee Clippers, but some later dashed that by saying that it hadn't entered the vernacular until after the boys returned from the South Pacific circa 1947. Both versions said it was from the Japanese. It was part of our household language though my father served in a Hamilton Standard skunkworks rather than overseas, perhaps my mother picked it up from her GI brothers, Soldier Boy John and Seaman Jim. I never knew it was anything but a New England expression until one day I used it in Texas and a fella's head turned and he asked me if I'd been in Japan. I didn't know what he was talking about.

I think the above link has some comments on the word.

Joe(one toke over the line,...)Nation

I wonder if it's used in BrE. I haven't found it in any of my "BrE" dictionaries. Clary, McTag, Steve, LordE, syntinen{?}, ... ?

I used it for years and then used it for more years in Japanese without ever making the connection until one day it just dawned on me. A Japanese friend or student, I forget which, said, "How do you say 'sukoshi' in English?"; a light came on and I said, "Skosh".

Needless to say, the person was a bit flabbergasted.

A stitch in time saves nine. (Whatever that means)

It's in the same category as 'an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure'.

I don't understand, probably because it's never been used in context in my presence, what "in a New York minute" means.

Great story on skosh.

A thing done when it is supposed to be done will prevent you from having to do nine times as much later. I would guess the choice of nine has a lot to do with it rhyming with time.

The minute.

The minute is the most elastic measure of time in the English Language. Examples:

"I'll be ready in just a minute, honey."
vs.
The doctor said "This will only take a minute."

These show the difference in time perception between the speakers and the listeners. Both the unready and the doctor believe the minute is short, but for us at the bottom of the stairway or on the cool, cool, cool examination table, the minute stretchs itself out towards infinity.

If the pizza guy say "Thirty minutes or less." I get dressed and have the tip money ready. If my friend, M......., says he will be over in a minute, I open a large book I've been waiting to read. If he says five minutes, I rent a cable tv movie and sit back to watch it.

At the restaurant, if there is a thirty minute wait for a table, the actual wait time is an hour. Five minutes is thirty and an hour wait means you will never be seated until every other person in New York City has been taken past the ropes.

That's because we in New York have no real sense of time. We meet at sevenish for drinks or 'around eleven or so' for brunch. No matter what time you show up the person you are meeting isn't there yet. If you phone them, they say they will be there in a minute, but not a New York minute, that's a Southernism.

Out West and down South there is this perception that we New Yorkers actually have a sense of time and that it is hurried. So when a Texan or a Georgian speaks of a minute vs. a New York Minute, it is the difference between doing things as regular, social, normal people do and doing things in a flash.
"Wham! He was on him in a New York minute."
"Leroy, you best get your room rit-up and it better take less than a New York minute."
"They didn't give us but a New York minute to make up our minds."

Joe(a discussion of jestasec should follow)Nation

"Needless to say, the person was a bit flabbergasted. "

I forgot to mention that I was too.

But that's how languages should be; separate icons, separate programs, only the weakest synaptic links between the two.

What you had was an AH HAH moment.

Joe(I seldom do, which is right.)Nation

How clever, I like that.

Joe Wrote:

Comparatively it is fast. We say we'll be there "directly", and directly is usually soon enough for most folks.


JTT WROTE:

Certainly, it is. But I don't like the "OO" words. :wink:

Virago

These are great! I think I'll go examine that thread.

Miss Virago, i am put in mind of the common reference to distance, "oh, it's about a half-mile down that way." Which means, you'll get there when you get there. Directly means to me, i'll get to it when i get to it.

Washingtonians are accused of providing distance in hours traveled and I find myself doing that all the time. Doesn't everyone?

Q -How far away is it?
A - It'll take you less than an hour unless there's traffic.


Setanta, so a-half-mile-down-the-road means it'll be coming-right-up?

Speaking of distance, has anyone else noticed how so many people equate distance with time? You ask how far a certain location is from here and, instead of saying, "It's about 20 miles or so," they'll say, "Oh, it's less than a half hour from here." Is that a habit we've gotten into since the automobile came into use? I believe it's mostly AmE. Europeans still think of distance in terms of actual distance, not time.

No . . . you weren't paying attention . . .

It means, you'll get there when you get there.

I took some city boys camping onc't, in the Shawnee Forest, one from Chicago and one from Rockford. We packed in some right heavy provisions--thermos bottles filled with eggs (put the thermos in the fridge, get the eggs really cold as well, then break them into the thermos just before you leave home. They will keep for up to a week, and you can just pour them into a skillet), ten pound bags of potatoes, canned meats, canned beans, canned fruit. Well, we have about a two mile hike from the end of the road to the place where i intended we camp. The boy from Rockford soon got to complaining about the distance and the weight he was carrying. Pointing out that we would eat the weight and it wouldn't have to be carried out again didn't help. When he would ask how far it was, i'd say: "Oh, it's just about a half-mile up here, round that bend in the trail." As we forded one stream, he threw down one of the bags he was carrying in disgust--and broke a wine bottle inside. That "sobered him up," and he was careful thereafter. When we finally arrived near the camp site, we came around a large standing rock (on top of which we later camped), and there before us was a broken rock face, over which an intermittent stream then flowing made a beautiful waterfall. He was suitably impressed, and even the sweating cursing Chicago boy stopped to gape. Then he got suspicious and asked: "Are we supposed to climb that?" I said he could do what he liked, but i was going up the bluff to set up the tent, and we had at least one more trip to make to bring all of the supplies in (there were four of us all tolled--the other country boy just chuckled to himself, mostly).

Thereafter, whenever my friend would start to ask how far something was, he'd stop himself and say: "I know, just about a half-mile." I'd smile and say: "Yup, we'll get there when we get there."

Knowing how far away something is with or without precision does not get you there any sooner.

That's true, Set. Half a mile on a paved street is a whole diff'rent thing from half a mile over broken terrain. It's different still in a desert.

I noticed ... see previous post.

The funny thing is you have to factor in distance in miles, number of passes to cross, traffic, construction, capability of driver, the car...

or, if you're walking with Setanta -- weight of food in pack, terrain, commitment, fitness & boots.

Good idea about a thermos of eggs. That's a new measurement to me.

I was paying attention! When we say 1/2 mile down the road, we really mean it and it is likely downhill, too.