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SV reX
SV reX MegaDork
10/19/23 2:08 p.m.

I hear "rebarb" a lot (which is awful).

I also hear "rebob" frequently, which takes it to a whole new level of stupid. 

DarkMonohue
DarkMonohue GRM+ Memberand Dork
10/19/23 3:34 p.m.
Antihero said:

For me it's how they [Australians] say "no", their version as far as I can tell has all the vowels in it

Yes! And in alphabetical order, no less. "Oh, no!" sounds like "Aeiou, naeiou!"

You just perfectly expressed a pronunciation that I have struggled to define for decades. Had I a hat, I would tip it in your general direction. 

Any country that describes eleven miles as "aydayn killamaydas" can probably spare us a little grace over our pronunciation of water.

Peabody
Peabody MegaDork
10/19/23 3:59 p.m.

I like accents and can often figure out where people are from, even regionally, their accents.

But I can't stand the Australian accent

Antihero
Antihero GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
10/19/23 4:37 p.m.
Peabody said:

I like accents and can often figure out where people are from, even regionally, their accents.

But I can't stand the Australian accent

It's sometimes a bit hard to suss out, but I got used to it relatively fast. It's kinda like the US though, there's a a lot of different Aussie accents, the one we are most used to( I call it the Crikey! one for obvious reasons) is the least likely to be heard in my experience.

If you want to get a rise out of them though, call them British lol. I really like Australia and will go back again soon.

 

And as side note I read once that a skilled linguist can figure out most accents based on how you say "no"

wae
wae PowerDork
10/27/23 10:29 a.m.

Oh, I just saw one that makes me want to grab the author by the collar and shake:

Paid.  The past tense of the irregular verb "to pay" is paid.  It is not and never shall it be "payed". 

Unless you're sailing.  But that payed has nothing to do with money.

TJL (Forum Supporter)
TJL (Forum Supporter) SuperDork
10/27/23 10:59 a.m.

Expresso instead of espresso

foilage instead of foliage

nucular instead of NUCLEAR

 

j_tso
j_tso Dork
10/27/23 11:15 a.m.

In reply to TJL (Forum Supporter) :

 

Duke
Duke MegaDork
10/27/23 11:45 a.m.
TJL (Forum Supporter) said:

Expresso instead of espresso

foilage instead of foliage

nucular instead of NUCLEAR

If we're going there:

Realitor

 

MadScientistMatt
MadScientistMatt UltimaDork
10/28/23 4:08 p.m.

"High rate of speed."

You can take "rate of" out there and mean the same thing, with better sentance flow.

DarkMonohue
DarkMonohue GRM+ Memberand Dork
10/28/23 5:06 p.m.
Duke said:
TJL (Forum Supporter) said:

Expresso instead of espresso

foilage instead of foliage

nucular instead of NUCLEAR

If we're going there:

Realitor

We are indeed going there. The mispronunciation of jewelry as "joolery" is so widespread it may well be the default. 

DarkMonohue
DarkMonohue GRM+ Memberand Dork
10/28/23 5:26 p.m.
MadScientistMatt said:

"High rate of speed."

You can take "rate of" out there and mean the same thing, with better sentance flow.

I'd give that one a pass. It's not the shortest possible sentence, but it's not a mistake.

Admittedly, I wince a little when I hear someone describe something as "(color) in color". If a building is blue, for example, there's no need to describe it as "blue in color"; color is the only attribute that could be blue. Blue in flavor or age or height or location or sound are generally not options.

It's probably an artifact of a more genteel era, when people had more time to fill with conversation and more incentive to pad their syllable count, but it still stands out like a beer helmet at a baptism. 

Streetwiseguy
Streetwiseguy MegaDork
10/28/23 5:43 p.m.

I live in Saskatchewan.  "Farmers field" is unnecessary.   99.8% of the fields here belong to farmers.

"Baseball field" is required. 

bludroptop
bludroptop UltraDork
10/28/23 5:54 p.m.

My dictionary nerd is triggered.  Cutting to the chase....

Do you believe that we should try to adhere to "correct" grammar?  (Webster's 2nd New International circa 1934)

or

Do you believe that common usage - what a majority of people say - is the standard?  (Webster's 3rd New International circa 1963)

 

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter)
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
10/28/23 6:04 p.m.

The pronunciation of Jew-Luh-Ree.  I will intentionally NOT shop at a Jew el ree store that has a commercial where they pronounce it Jew Luh Ree.

... and for the love of all that's holy.... can we please re-learn about apostrophes?

My neighbor has a bumper sticker that reads "My kids an honor student at [school]."  50 educators, a principal and three vice principals, an office full of office-y people, not to mention the editors, copy writers, and printers at a print company, all missed the apostrophe?  The ONE TIME it's actually called for, they don't use it.  They are probably the people who order appetizer's at a restaurant.

Who's/Whose
Their/They're/There
 

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter)
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
10/28/23 6:08 p.m.
bludroptop said:

My dictionary nerd is triggered.  Cutting to the chase....

Do you believe that we should try to adhere to "correct" grammar?  (Webster's 2nd New International circa 1934)

or

Do you believe that common usage - what a majority of people say - is the standard?  (Webster's 3rd New International circa 1963)

 

Correct grammar.  Just because a book says that "you've got" is a common phrase does not make it grammatically correct.  It's "you have" (present tense, as in "you have a dandruff problem) or "you got" (past tense, as in you received, like "you got a Miata")

DarkMonohue
DarkMonohue GRM+ Memberand Dork
10/29/23 1:37 p.m.
bludroptop said:

My dictionary nerd is triggered.  Cutting to the chase....

Do you believe that we should try to adhere to "correct" grammar?  (Webster's 2nd New International circa 1934)

or

Do you believe that common usage - what a majority of people say - is the standard?  (Webster's 3rd New International circa 1963)

It depends!

We - in this context, US residents learning and using English - should all be taught, to whatever degree is practical, the same rules.  We should all learn to read, write, and speak uniform American English.  It's the first and most critical step in ensuring that we can generally communicate with anyone we are likely to encounter within our own country.

On the other hand, there are regional dialects (folk culture) that are no less legitimate, in their own context, than standard American English.  Those dialects, pronunciations, and speech patterns deserve to be preserved and protected as part of our national fabric.  I would not expect someone from Munich, North Dakota to sound like someone from Deer Lodge, TN, or someone from Pittsburgh, PA to sound like someone from Pittsburg, CA.

Losing regional differences is a greater concern to me than generational changes (pop culture), as I suspect that  generational changes in language are less permanent.  We hear a lot of trends in spoken English now that will, with any luck, fade away as those who practice them mature and start to realize that nobody else is using upward inflection and T-glottalization.

Back to design issues.  I take these bagged salads to work for lunch.  The bags are partially transparent, and the contents are plainly visible; there's no doubt that they contain salad.  Why does it bug me so much that the packaging is typically labeled "chopped kit" rather than "chopped salad kit"?  Even if it's obvious, the label should tell you what's inside.




 

Streetwiseguy
Streetwiseguy MegaDork
10/29/23 1:43 p.m.

In reply to DarkMonohue :

I'd bet a reasonable amount of cash, the wording is a sales tax issue. I read about this a few weeks ago. There was quite a lot of discussion in Canada where the federal sales tax (gst) was applied.  Prepared food, yes.  A chopped salad kit was a crossover.  Raw vegetables are non taxable, prepared salad is taxed.

And, back to our regular programming.

DarkMonohue
DarkMonohue GRM+ Memberand Dork
10/29/23 2:51 p.m.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

That sounds entirely likely.  My assumption was that it was an attempt to imply comfort and familiarity with the consumer through the omission of a word that was mutually understood - the seller knows they're selling salad, the buyer knows she's buying salad, so leaving that word out might be a way to let the customer feel that she and the brand/product have a relationship and really understand each other. 

I use "she" because it's my understanding that statistically, grocery and consumer goods are primarily purchased by women, and that the packaging and marketing of those products is shaped accordingly.  There is an entire discussion in that topic, but I'm far from an expert, and my unscientific peanut-gallery observations are likely enough to be misconstrued that we might better steer clear of it for now.

stuart in mn
stuart in mn MegaDork
10/29/23 3:09 p.m.
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:
Correct grammar.  Just because a book says that "you've got" is a common phrase does not make it grammatically correct.  It's "you have" (present tense, as in "you have a dandruff problem) or "you got" (past tense, as in you received, like "you got a Miata")

Along with "needs fixed" that's one of my biggest pet peeves, but it's so common these days I don't think there's any turning back.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter)
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
10/29/23 8:54 p.m.

In reply to stuart in mn :

YES.  Needs to be fixed or needs fixing.

And thank goodness I'm not shopping for a Camaro, because it seems like half of them are listed as a Camero.  I get it.  Some people are bad at spelling, but between the dashboard, the fenders, the title, registration, wheel center caps, and the insurance paperwork, you would think they it would be drilled into the owner's head how to spell it.

wae
wae PowerDork
10/29/23 10:00 p.m.

In reply to stuart in mn :

That is a major pet peeve of mine, as well.

Here's one that really gets under my skin, and it's kind of weird...  I have no problem when someone says "I need to go to the bathroom" or "the dog urinated on the carpet in the living room", but I cannot stand the use of the verb "to pee".

Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos)
Brett_Murphy (Agent of Chaos) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
10/30/23 11:14 a.m.

In reply to wae :

Does it aggravate the piss out of you? Do you think people who use it are taking the piss?

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter)
Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
10/30/23 11:14 a.m.

In reply to wae :

My grandfather always used to say he had to go Strizzle his Goose.

z31maniac
z31maniac MegaDork
10/30/23 11:29 a.m.
DarkMonohue said:
MadScientistMatt said:

"High rate of speed."

You can take "rate of" out there and mean the same thing, with better sentance flow.

I'd give that one a pass. It's not the shortest possible sentence, but it's not a mistake.

Admittedly, I wince a little when I hear someone describe something as "(color) in color". If a building is blue, for example, there's no need to describe it as "blue in color"; color is the only attribute that could be blue. Blue in flavor or age or height or location or sound are generally not options.

It's probably an artifact of a more genteel era, when people had more time to fill with conversation and more incentive to pad their syllable count, but it still stands out like a beer helmet at a baptism. 

There is such a thing as "blue steak" which is colloquial for extra rare. Essentially like you see nice tuna at fancy restaurants. Seared hard on the outside, still basically raw in the middle.

wspohn
wspohn UltraDork
10/30/23 12:23 p.m.

I am impressed!

I spent a decade toiling in the halls of academe accumulating degrees and more than three decades thereafter in the practice  of law, which demanded precise use of language (failure to do so could be very costly as mentioned earlier in this thread) , but the last place I expected to see a thread on the subject was a car forum!

One wonders what surprising threads might come next - a wine and food discussion,  or subjects of even more esoteric interest?

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