The woeful state of the English language

Posted by: Nigel Cavendish on 25 June 2007

I don't usually complain, but watching the athletics over the week-end, Hazel Irvine said that a pole vaulter had “no-heighted” in his previous 2 attempts. This followed someone else saying that somebody had “podiumed” at their last event.
Posted on: 30 June 2007 by BigH47
HERE are some more "new" words and phrases
Posted on: 30 June 2007 by J.N.
quote:
It is the creeping invasion of 'Microsoft English'



John.
Posted on: 01 July 2007 by fred simon


Here are just of few of the ever-increasing number of American linguistic infractions which bother more than they should for my own good:


  • "supposably"

  • infestation of apostrophes ... or should that be "apostrophe's"? ... I recently saw a painted window sign in a cafe "two beverage's, toast, bacon or sausage, pancake's, and two egg's $2.75" (a very good price, nevertheless)

  • by far the most peevish of all my linguistic peeves is the new culture-wide practice of pronouncing "str" as "shtr" ... as in, "Just go shtraight down this shtreet."


All best,
Fred


Posted on: 01 July 2007 by Major-Tom
Saw one the other day on a B&Q bulk sand delivery bag...None-returnable, Non-returnable surely?
Also, the last time I checked, Large was an adjective, not a verb, so how can you 'Go large ? And whilst I'm having a moan, why do people (you know who you are Estate Agents ) use Sat (past tense) to describe something which is obviously still sitting there.(The house is sat in an acre of land !! ) Grrrr.
Posted on: 01 July 2007 by Chillkram
If we are talking about pet peeves in terms of abuse of the language, that which annoys me most is the use of 'could of', 'would of', 'should of' etc, instead of 'could've', 'would've', 'should've'.

Sorry, it just grates!

Mark
Posted on: 01 July 2007 by El-Rey
I regret the passing of the letter T, particularly in cricket commentary, which should be a bastion for correct use of the language. Hence we have Nasser Hussain et al talking about the Twennee Twennee cricket or the famous batsmen,one Kevin Peederson. Shame that my first proper post has to be a moan, sign of my age perhaps.
Posted on: 03 July 2007 by fred simon


I can't believe I forgot two of the most peevish of all my linguistic peeves. They both seem to be related:

"So, I'm like, 'Why did he do that'?"

or its insidious variant:

"So, I go, 'Why did he do that'?"

These really crawl up my bum. Whatever happened to "I said"?! How did nearly an entire culture (American) end up sounding like a 1980s' Valley Girl?!

All best,
Fred


Posted on: 04 July 2007 by Rasher
quote:
end up sounding like a 1980s' Valley Girl?!

Big Grin
I like that.
Posted on: 04 July 2007 by JonR
quote:
Originally posted by El-Rey:
I regret the passing of the letter T, particularly in cricket commentary, which should be a bastion for correct use of the language. Hence we have Nasser Hussain et al talking about the Twennee Twennee cricket or the famous batsmen,one Kevin Peederson. Shame that my first proper post has to be a moan, sign of my age perhaps.


Yes that will be on Sky Sports - they abandoned correct pronunciation a looooong time ago.

The pinnacle of TV cricket coverage, for me, was Channel 4's effort before they lost the terrestrial rights to Five. A great team they had, fronted by Mark Nicholas and including the peerless Richie Benaud. What a shame C4 took such a short-sighted view of things and abandoned it all in its prime.