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"chucked a nana"????

Spelling errors are one of my pet peeves. In my opinion they're due to laziness and technology. Even the spouse, who is a computer architect/department manager, admits to relying on 'speel check'.

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

I could, if I were so inclined, launch into typing a 40,000 word dissertation on the subject of language abuse. Choosing as my first target the truly execrable perversion of the language that seems to be de rigeur in business schools. The next person who dares to utter a phrase in my hearing such as "you need to downsize your aspirations to reflect the corporate synergies you are operating under" will be stapled to his or her desk by the ears.

Then, of course, there is "txt spk". Which may have a place when trying to pack as much information as possible into the limitations of SMS on a mobile phone, but the use of which in chat rooms, where there is no such limitation on message size, will invite death by stoning from those like myself who endured several years' hard instruction in English classes.

As for 733T or whatever it is called, this is the refuge of the terminally sad. Someone please put these life forms out of our misery.

Worst of all, however, is the attempt to potty train our thinking by various inadequates with clinically reportable ideological fixations through the use of tortuous degradation of language. The obvious candidate here being political correctness. Which seems to be devoted principally to transforming the beauty of English into something turgid, stultifying, and unfit to be uttered through an intelligent human being's mouth. But then, ideologues from all sectors of the political spectrum seem to have a talent for producing a veritable bramble thicket of verbiage whose grammar and vocabulary are an aural assault. The miasma of clouded thinking that is responsible for such linguistic excrescences is truly shocking to behold.

Although this may be bad news for the mentally lazy, language standards arose precisely because of the need to ensure that communication is unambiguous, meaningful and conveys at least a certain minimum degree of intellectual content. Those who do not possess sufficient functioning brain cells to master this concept, or are too indolent to apply it, are hereby advised to return to arboreal living.

Sloppy language may not equal sloppy thinking, but the two tend to be fairly intimate bedfellows.

[End rant]



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

What I do not like is, MEH. I don't know who started this one.....But it's ME not MEH, every chat room on the net you see someone useing these stupid words...

Er ... "meh" doesn't mean me. "Meh" is more or less a verbal shrug, and that's the way it's used. I've never seen anyone use meh in place of me.

-Molly
Visit shelldwellers.com!

As we say back home "the English gave us a language and we thought them how to use it"

OH REALLY, bansaf? You THOUGHT them how to use it? What'd you do, use telepathy? Or perhaps you meant you TAUGHT them? So much for mastering the English language

><>Dani<><

What I do not like is, MEH. I don't know who started this one.....But it's ME not MEH, every chat room on the net you see someone useing these stupid words...


and Lates IS Later so on so forth, why not just type the real word?

Angel Eel


This also goes way back for me, way back to when Led Zeppelin
was getting in trouble for mispelling there name on purpose.

It's funny you mention that.. i have a t shirt from a fast food chain here that says " Tried A Arby's Sandwich Yet? "

I wear it just to tick people off

Sorry Guppy, it just really irked me.

I have a few friends that worked there for extra cash, so i know how that bit goes, but i swear it takes them some time to gather their minds up when they leave

I don't mind slang, or even txt shortenings sometimes, but blatant disregard for every person who did primary school english is a bit rough.

We have to give the world a bit of credit, surely we can deal with 'an'

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Hey! I'm one of those checkout dudes! I think the sign was deliberately worded that way, as management probably thought it would be more *appealing* to customers.

Also, I think you will find that the majority of the kids working at these jobs are only there casual/part time and are actually studying - but need the job for extra cash! I know at my work place most of us are

Sometimes I do think slang words are used far too much and it gets a bit old. Other than that I don't really have a problem with slang/shortcuts used in appropriate situations.

Agreed - it's too bad it's sometimes misused but, to reference Shakespeare again, most people had very little idea what people were saying in his plays even at the time he was writing them.


Anyway, one of the reasons English is such a wonderful language is its flexibility and just plain SIZE. An old English prof of mine (fluent in French and married to a Frenchwoman, so this isn't a dig) used to say that in terms of the vocabulary size and the general possibilities, English is like a computer and French (or Italian, or Spanish, etc) is like a hammer - but they create beautiful poetry and literature with their hammer, and we can't get online.

-Molly
Visit shelldwellers.com!

Language, like everything else, evolves and changes with the times. If we had computers a few hundred years ago we would be writing posts about going to ye olde fish shoppe to purchase a bushel of bloodwyrms. I'm sure somebody back then got upset about dropping the e in old Shakespeare wrote in English, should we return to talking like that ?

Anyway it's funny listening to Americans and Australians tease one another over the english language Everyone knows that nobody outside of Ireland can use the language properly. As we say back home "the English gave us a language and we taught them how to use it"

Last edited by bensaf at 26-Apr-2005 20:55

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Since when was politeness required in grammar?

PM/email/msg me if you have any questions/comments regarding me or my knowledge or if you want me to read a thread.

heck I'd be happy just to have the kids remember to capitalize the first letter in a sentence, proper nouns (names), and some sort of punctuation at the endoh and can someone tell in exactly what society the phrase "nunya" is considered the polite way of telling someone none of your business?

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

Yep. "I want an allergy eater" is unfortunately a common utterance in fish stores. And, worse transgressions abound. English professors, run for your life!!!

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

We hear, read, and see, examples of the "new" "english"
daily. I'm afraid the first time I opened my mouth
"Down Under" I'd stick out like a sore thumb with my
Southern Accent.
Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

*shudder* after moving to australia I've learnt a new phrase...

Fooly seak[/translate= Fully sick :%)]

It seems like people say it when something they like happens? I just can't bring myself to saying it, I just can't


I think that N.Zers (kiwis) speak the best english

Last edited by dude_dude at 26-Apr-2005 03:27

Kinda funny to read a Bottom of Earther talking about how they're butchering the language down there

We don't even speak English here anymore, we've definitely adopted Texan here...

PM/email/msg me if you have any questions/comments regarding me or my knowledge or if you want me to read a thread.

Dude that's wicked messed up!
(said in my true Boston accent)



Last edited by Jessnick at 25-Apr-2005 15:30

Those are the joys of living in the modern world, Calla.

Joe Potato

English.

Not a glamourous language, but its mine, and they are killing it!

Today at the supermarket, i spotted signs behind the register

"do you want a Enviro bag"

A Envirobag? Management is encouraging people to talk like this??? No wonder it seems like the checkout kids aren't all there, they have to check their braincells at the door!

*sigh*


NOW, on the radio, I am listening to a report on the japanese train accident.

"some of the seriously injured have been airlifted to up to 5 separate hospitals"

??

That isn't an exact quote unfortunately, the exact quote escapes me at the moment. It made me squint my eyes and glare at the radio

which parts of what passenger were taken to what hospital exactly? or did they do it in some sort of order? possibly a major hospital tour?


I know my language leaves something to be desired, and grammar, what grammar? but geez! I expect news shows and large corporations to have someone who checks this sort of stuff

Even a basic computer program would have chucked a nana over A envorobag.



For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett