I am not a pedant but why on TV and Radio can no conversation take place without the word 'Absolutely'?
Other irritating phrases such as '110 per cent'.
Educated people who cannot express themselves without saying 'um' or 'er' every fourth word.
Why does everything have to be 'mega mega exciting', why not just 'exciting'?
Why don't so called experts not know there is no such word as 'hieroglyphics'.
I could write several more, but let's have your 'nightmares'
Have come to the conclusion the English Language is losing it's edge, and the standard of education is declining.
Is this due to texting etc?
Why don't so called experts not know there is no such word as 'hieroglyphics'.
Really? Is it just 'hieroglyphic'?
The standard of education is declining due to the upbringing of ... by ... who have no respect whatsoever for their elders and cannot be told what to do.
Therefore cannot be taught.
Thankfully I gave up watching TV a long time ago, but I still hear the garbage on radio.
I do totally agree, its like most people are either pretending to be a management sales executive by talking useless idioms and phrases or a complete imbecile that mashes words together to save brain power, init?.
Aside from the general trash-talk that most people seem to use, politicians seem to be good ones for it.
Just a few of my pet hates;
Grass roots (usually followed by 'campaign')
Austerity Measures
Percenters
Networking (when aimed at people just talking to each other)
At the end of the day
Oh, and most teenage speak
The list goes on and on.
Gone are the days when you were told 'theres a 't' in *insert word of choice here*', now its 'thats not even a word'. lol
I don't like it when words (especially acronyms) become used out of context so if you look at the sentance properly they no longer make any sense. Examples
GM Food - Genetically Modified Food - that works correctly but over time "GMs" became the term - as in "He had GMs for his tea" which is cobblers.
PIN number is another one - as the N stands for number so are we talking about a Personal Identification Number Number?
I don't like it when words (especially acronyms) become used out of context so if you look at the sentance properly they no longer make any sense. Examples
PIN number is another one - as the N stands for number so are we talking about a Personal Identification Number Number?
Yes, another is VIC check, vehicle identity check check.
Mph - miles an hour (somehow!)
Mph - miles an hour (somehow!)
Miles Per hour
How about people that use 'nauseous' when they should be using 'nauseated'.
Mph - miles an hour (somehow!)
Miles Per hour
Sorry wheels - yeah I know it stands for miles per hour it just always seems to be referred to as miles an hour
Baz
Another one is "can I axe you a question?" I even heard a radio presenter using it "last night I axed you a question" - turned off after that!
Why don't so called experts not know there is no such word as 'hieroglyphics'.
Really? Is it just 'hieroglyphic'?
A single character is a "glyph", so I think OP's suggestion is that "hieroglyphs" is the correct pleural.
Certainly the use of hieroglyphic as a noun looks to have fallen from favour in academia.
White kids who talk patois, in Canada they call them "whiggers". The Jamaicans have their own speak so let them get on with it, no need for our indigenous crowd to start doing it, we have a perfectly robust language of our own. Just me on a rant. Absolutely.
A single character is a "glyph", so I think OP's suggestion is that "hieroglyphs" is the correct pleural.
Certainly the use of hieroglyphic as a noun looks to have fallen from favour in academia.
Interesting. Cheers.
How about people that use 'nauseous' when they should be using 'nauseated'.
That's a good one; commonly mis-used.
Really? the membrane which surrounds the lungs and becomes inflamed in pleurisy?
Not a spoken thing but written, but the almost total death of punctuation! Have none of them heard of:
The teacher said the boy is a fool.
and
The teacher, said the boy, is a fool.
Not a spoken thing but written, but the almost total death of punctuation! Have none of them heard of:
The teacher said the boy is a fool.
and
The teacher, said the boy, is a fool.
Classic example:
'I helped my uncle jack off a horse' and 'I helped my Uncle, Jack, off a horse'
Don't get me started... in particular, the misuse or omission of an apostrophe.
The ones that get to me most are the use and misuse of their, there, they're, your and you're, along with of and off. I hate the use of "text speak" with a passion. I don't even use it in text messages. I don't think it should be used on things such as Forums, emails etc.
The "drowning man lol" annoys me too.
As for speech, I get irritated by the "axe" and "axed" instead of ask and asked, along with words beginning with, or containing, "th" that are pronounced as if they start with an "f", e.g. fank, fick, fink and anyfink.
I have probably put a "," in that last paragraph that does not need to be there. If so, I apologise.
How about people that use 'nauseous' when they should be using 'nauseated'.
Would that not be "I feel nauseous after watching the shark tear off a mans limb" or "I was feeling nauseated"?
Another one is "can I axe you a question?" I even heard a radio presenter using it "last night I axed you a question" - turned off after that!
That's crept in with our multi culture, it's mainly pronounced like that by Black people, grass roots African here it a lot in America and is creeping in here also but alot of it is down to hoodies trying to talk gangsta dawg, the give a way is when Tim Westwood says it - NOT COOL
Nauseated = when you feel sick
Nauseous = when something causes nausea
So even though it sounds wrong you'd feel nauseated after watching the shark tear off a mans limb.
Well, lanugage is always changing and evolving (or devolving in some cases) look at how different modern english is to "ye olde" days, I actually wouldn't be suprised if in a few hundred years a lot of the things that annoy you lot end up in the dictionary.
And of course there is the oh-so-common: "I could of..." when it should be "I could have..." (or "I could've...")
Sorry for the double post but...
Oh dear... haha!!
Have come to the conclusion the English Language is losing it's edge
You mean ITS edge. "It's" is the abbreviated form of "it is". My own pet hate is apostrophe misuse. See below and take note:
http://www.apostrophe.org.uk/
Interesting topic
Rated.
You mean ITS edge. "It's" is the abbreviated form of "it is". My own pet hate is apostrophe misuse. See below and take note:
http://www.apostrophe.org.uk/ I remember Keith Waterhouse in his Daily Mail column forming the A.A.A.A which was the Association for the Abolition of the Aberrant Apostrophe. It's a concept to which I wholeheartedly subscribe.
I think that this thread is Absolutely AMAZING!.
Careful there Fly, they will be forming the A.A.A.F. next...
Another one is "can I axe you a question?" I even heard a radio presenter using it "last night I axed you a question" - turned off after that!
I doubt you would like watching rastamouse on cbeebies then..lol
Not a spoken thing but written, but the almost total death of punctuation! Have none of them heard of:
The teacher said the boy is a fool.
and
The teacher, said the boy, is a fool.
I used to laugh at the expression'The natives are revolting'.
Why don't so called experts not know there is no such word as 'hieroglyphics'.
Really? Is it just 'hieroglyphic'?
A single character is a "glyph", so I think OP's suggestion is that "hieroglyphs" is the correct pleural.
Certainly the use of hieroglyphic as a noun looks to have fallen from favour in academia.
Hieroglyphic is an adjective.
What really annoys me is the pronunciation of lieutenant as
"lootenant" by the media.
Hieroglyphic is an adjective.
Yes, but previously it was also acceptable to use it as a noun. In fact some dictionaries still list it as one...
As for speech, I get irritated by the "axe" and "axed" instead of ask and asked
Is that no really a black thing though, to do with the afro-Caribbean accent?? I know some muppets imitate it nowadays, but it's a bit wrong to criticise people for their accents.
As for speech, I get irritated by the "axe" and "axed" instead of ask and asked
Is that no really a black thing though, to do with the afro-Caribbean accent?? I know some muppets imitate it nowadays, but it's a bit wrong to criticise people for their accents.
True, it is accent based, but it has become adopted by people who dont have the accent as a replacement for 'ask'. Ive pulled up my kids for saying it.
Its like when British kids do American 'gangsta' speak. "Me and my brederin come from da mean streets of Detroi... I mean Birkenhead, yo."
Even then it gets butchered beyond recognition.
Its not about race, its about emulating a culture that you are not a part of.
It makes me cringe.
Another media one that I hate is 'nother', as in 'a whole nother level'. Just lazy.
As for speech, I get irritated by the "axe" and "axed" instead of ask and asked, along with words beginning with, or containing, "th" that are pronounced as if they start with an "f", e.g. fank, fick, fink and anyfink.
'Anythink' is even more commonly heard.
My pet hate is 'gonna'.
Another hate is the use of the plural verb in phrases like 'the Government are..','the company are..', 'the team are..', 'the BBC are..', etc.
The perils of a grammar school education!
Since when did it become acceptable to start linking words randomly together? 'Aswell', 'alot', 'aslong'...
There is no such word as 'alot'! :sobs:
What really annoys me is the pronunciation of lieutenant as
"lootenant" by the media.
Aha! Our Jimmy was always the "1st lootenant" and we had "lootenant commanders" as well as ordinary 2 ringed "lootenants". Depends where you are serving. I think the Frogs might "lootenant" it as well, only in a Frog accent. I think I'm right but in "leff" of a difinitive answer I'll leave it at that.
Sentences without proper verbs, init.
Hieroglyphic is an adjective.
Yes, but previously it was also acceptable to use it as a noun. In fact some dictionaries still list it as one...
Thanks Little Pob.
Phenomenon - singular, phenomena - plural.
'Different from', not 'different to'.
..and so, to food:
A "Panini" - whereas the singular should be a 'Panino'.
Two or more "Paninis" when Panini is ALREADY plural!
The rogue comma strikes again
I like these.
Except it should be AGGRAVATE
x
Except it should be AGGRAVATE
x
It worked then?
"Sentences without proper verbs" by definition, are not sentences (they are phrases)...