Campaign for 'proper' English

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cyclamens

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I am a miserable old git - my wife knows it, the kids know it and even the dog knows it.
Those of you who have read some of my posts will also know it.

Anyway, the point of the thread. Just been to KFC (Charnock Richard M6 - it was rubbish), and just heard another kid say 'Can I get'.

The other day I phoned the Employer section of Direct Gov - the 'kid' on the other end of the phone kept saying 'Can I get' instead of can I have?

Of all the Americanisms in our vocabulary this is the one which really pi***s me off.:bang::bang::bang:

What is this garbage? There you are - even I do it

What gets your goat?
 
people always bitching and moaning.;)
 
'you and I' instead of 'you and me' - trouble is it's a lost cause, it's all text-speak now, it's got into the BBC, politicians, schoolteachers ... everything!
 
Martyn... said:
People who say "Can I have" instead of "May I have" :D
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Beaten to it! Yes, theoretically you can. :p

The misuse of could is always a good one. "Could you pass the ketchup?" "Yes, I could. I won't though." :lol:
 
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I can't bear it in written english when people write 'would of' instead of 'would have' - Grrrrr, that along with text speak is a real pet hate of mine!! :)
 
"I won him." instead of "I beat him."

"I borrowed him..." instead of "I leant him..."
 
gramps said:
'you and I' instead of 'you and me' - trouble is it's a lost cause, it's all text-speak now, it's got into the BBC, politicians, schoolteachers ... everything!
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That all depends on which words follow on in the sentence. The rule is delete the you so it is only either me or I and then it's which ever makes sense in the sentence.
 
nilagin said:
That all depends on which words follow on in the sentence. The rule is delete the you so it is only either me or I and then it's which ever makes sense in the sentence.
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'You and I can go to the club' [ok]
'You and me can go to the club' [not ok]
'That applies to you and me' [ok]
'That applies to you and I' [not okay]

nilagin said:
The rule is delete the you so it is only either me or I and then it's which ever makes sense in the sentence.
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:thinking:
 
"Tow the line" and "Baited breath" are my particular favourites.
 
Popcorn anyone? :thinking::clap::clap::clap::clap:

2the fing iz wiv **** u hav to get down wiv da kidz..........the times are a movin yeh?" ;)

Seriously, many things annoy me, I am a grumpy old man, but it irks me more to see a wonky horizon on a decent landscape / seascape than someone misspelling something and then blaming Dyslexia / ADHD / etc ...

There seems to be a general consensus, especially in younger members of forums (fora?) I visit, that the spelling is not so important, as long as the other person can understand you?

Had a few recent run ins with a young chap on here about this as well...........:lol:
 
Well, these are my two:
1. When people put apostrophes where they aren't supposed to. Such as: My photo's; It's fur; and stuff like that.
2. My friends say "Can I see your camera?" (See, there's the 'can'!) I'll say that yes they can see it all they want but whether they MAY USE it is something else. :D
 
language evolves. people used to speak along the lines of "one haveth a most ghastly grammar" etc. so im sure they said the same thing when people started talking differently.
 
I thought evolution was supposed to make things better :thinking:
 
neil_g said:
language evolves. people used to speak along the lines of "one haveth a most ghastly grammar" etc. so im sure they said the same thing when people started talking differently.
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Caps key broken? ;)
 
I can't say I'm perfect, but wander instead of wonder really gets my goat. Why can't they speak proper england? ;)
 
lens drives me :bang: and "draw" instead of "drawer" isn't much better :gag:
 
Carter64 said:
Licence and license. Or am I just being even more pedantic than I am usually?
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That's one of my pet hates, plus the fact that "OUR" language is constantly Americanised, or should that be "IZED". I really get annoyed with people spelling things like specialized, or customized.

And of course, text speak.... maybe I'm old at 49 ?

Edit: Also that line from Billy on DIY SOS "I dunned it I did"

Steve
 
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Do photographers in Mexico use the term "aperature" as much as those in the States?
 
What gets me going is lack of knowledge in the media when it comes to the use of the word bacteria. Take the recent E.coli outbreak.

E.coli is a bacterium, not a bacteria. Bacteria is the plural of bacterium.... just bloody well get it right, BBC :D
 
nigpd said:
What gets me going is lack of knowledge in the media when it comes to the use of the word bacteria. Take the recent E.coli outbreak.

E.coli is a bacterium, not a bacteria. Bacteria is the plural of bacterium.... just bloody well get it right, BBC :D
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W o t he said!
 
Rustico said:
How about: "I saw that it's color was brown"?
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The ' is there in the place of the missing letter 'i', so [it's] should rightly be [it is] - you wouldn't say "it is colour was brown" would you? (and it's colour, not color!!!)
 
cyclamens said:
I am a miserable old git - my wife knows it, the kids know it and even the dog knows it.
Those of you who have read some of my posts will also know it.

Anyway, the point of the thread. Just been to KFC (Charnock Richard M6 - it was rubbish), and just heard another kid say 'Can I get'.

The other day I phoned the Employer section of Direct Gov - the 'kid' on the other end of the phone kept saying 'Can I get' instead of can I have?

Of all the Americanisms in our vocabulary this is the one which really pi***s me off.:bang::bang::bang:

What is this garbage? There you are - even I do it

What gets your goat?
Click to expand...

Ah - a kindred spirit. :thumbs:

My pet hates are apostrophe abuse. Apostrophes denote missing letters or ownership, not plurals (that means more than one of something for those who do use them in this context).

I also dislike use of meaningless unnecessary words such as "really" and "incredibly". Incredible? I don't believe it.

One expression that really sticks in my craw is "We have a situation". When do we not have a situation.

Evolution? Nonsense. Evolution is generally an improvement. What we are going through is corruption because a lot of people simply are not very good at English any more.

There is one exception to this though and that is dyslexics. I have great sympathy with them and they are the reason I have eased off on nailing grammar sins.
 
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Oggy said:
Ah - a kindred spirit. :thumbs:

My pet hates are apostrophe abuse. Apostrophes denote missing letters or ownership, not plurals (that means more than one of something for those who do use them in this context).

I also dislike use of meaningless unnecessary words such as "really" and "incredibly". Incredible? I don't believe it.

One expression that really sticks in my craw is "We have a situation". When do we not have a situation.

Evolution? Nonsense. Evolution is generally an improvement. What we are going through is corruption because a lot of people simply are not very at English any more.

There is one exception to this though and that is dyslexics. I have great sympathy with them and they are the reason I have eased off on nailing grammar sins.
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:thinking: :p
 
Oggy said:
Ah - a kindred spirit. :thumbs:

There is one exception to this though and that is dyslexics. I have great sympathy with them and they are the reason I have eased off on nailing grammar sins.
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Strangely, my brother in law is dyslexic and uses 'predictive text' on his mobile. Works really well for him.

When my wife has used my mobile and turns predictive text on it inevitably gets thrown at her with a shout of 'get that off - you know I can't work it!':help:
 
It's a shame the English language is going to pot. But da problem is that wiv txt speak being everywhere a lot of youngsters r substituting long real words wiv symbols & wrds wiv vwls missin!
Txt speak is even being included in the Oxforf Dictionary.

*** hope is there 4 the youff of ****!
 
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Doddy1974 said:
It's a shame the English language is going to pot. But da problem is that wiv txt speak being everywhere a lot of youngsters r substituting long real words wiv symbols & wrds wiv vwls missin!
Txt speak is even being included in the Oxforf Dictionary.

W o t hope is there 4 the youff of * ***!
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People who blame their bad spelling and grammar on dyslexia.

Yes, there are a lot of people who suffer from dyslexia but not as many as whom claim it, most just use it as an excuse. If you believed everyone who claims to have it it would stand at about 90% rather than the more realistic figure of 5%.
 
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