Do they teach American language in Primary schools nowadays?

[PK99]

I agree with you on this one. The " Can I lend " really irritates me too and I always correct it.
" Can you borrow me" is another one.

"should of" is another of these.

All are errors all kids (certainly mine did) make as toddlers when learning the language which should have been corrected.

 

[yello]

I love how languages changes; shifts and shapes with the passage of time. Words borrowed, purloined, bludgeoned even. Please, never ever freeze it.

Language creativity is one of the joys available to us all.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Zero for 0

How would you pronounce 0?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Anyone heard from Victor Meldrew?

 

[Accy cyclist]

How would you pronounce 0?

Like the letter O. 01254 is the telephone code for this area. You can say 01254, or zero 1254.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Like the letter O. 01254 is the telephone code for this area. You can say 01254, or zero 1254.

But it’s not the letter O, so why call it that?

 

[Accy cyclist]

But it’s not the letter O, so why call it that?

That's the way it's always been. You could say naught if you like.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

That's the way it's always been. You could say naught if you like.

Well if you don’t want to say anything

 

[alicat]

Glad I’m not the only one who finds it extremely irritating. Maybe in the future standing at a counter and saying “ can I have a ******* please ” will be considered very quaint and old fashioned.

Not half as quaint and old-fashioned as saying 'May I have ******** please?'

 

[PK99]

I love how languages changes; shifts and shapes with the passage of time. Words borrowed, purloined, bludgeoned even. Please, never ever freeze it.

Language creativity is one of the joys available to us all.

I agree but something like "He should of done that." is nonsense - or more correctly a non-sentence with no verb.

 

[Tenkaykev]

When I was working I’d phone customers and suppliers on a daily basis. To avoid any misunderstanding with numbers I would always say “ zero “ instead of “0” , and “ decimal instead of “ point”
On one occasion a supplier I was having a telephone conversation with asked if I flew as a hobby, when I asked why he’d asked, he told me it was my use of “ decimal “. It turned that he flew light aircraft.

 

[yello]

I agree but something like "He should of done that." is nonsense - or more correctly a non-sentence with no verb.

Think of 'of' as a verb then. Accents of English can differ in grammar and syntax (cockney for example) - think of it in a similar way.

 

[Alex321]

Are you complaining about the use of zero? I use it, correctly, all the time. Zero is a number and not a letter.

I presume he means rather than saying "nought". But yes, I would always use zero if giving a number digit-by-digit. I can't think why that might be considered an Americanism.

 

[Time Waster]

I think there's some on here that are forgetting about regional dialects and use of language. If you stick to a kind of English language version of received pronunciation then IMHO that's a big problem. English language itself isn't fixed in aspic, nor should it be. If American English becomes the dominant form of our language then that's just the process it has always gone through. Common use changes over time, always has. You've as much chance stopping the flow of time itself as affecting an end to the changes our language goes through naturally. Cultural authoritarianism you could call that.

Personally I like the way our language varies, not just in our country but around the world. The fact it's gone out to the world and is now coming back to change the "mother" tongue is simply wonderful imho.

 

[Alex321]

Zero for 0 when giving out phone, bank card numbers etc, period for full stop/end of sentence, guys for both male and female. I hate it when adults call children guys.

Zero is perfectly fine, and I have always used guys when talking to a mixed group - I don't think either of those are Americanisms particularly - in fact on the latter, I think the Americans are less likely than we are to use guys to mean anything other than a group of men. "Guys and Dolls" was an American musical after all.

Period, I'd agree with you on.