Misuse of words

[Speicher]

Ah, I asked my husband about this because we do a lot of sailing and the wind direction always seems wrong.

He explained it thus: Way back in the mists of time when Mr & Mrs Early Farmer decided to plant their crops they had to choose a good time. Wind direction was a useful indicator of this - east wind cold, west wind warm & wet, south wind warm & dry, etc etc. They weren't interested in the direction in which the wind was going, but the direction from which it came. In other words, East Wind means it comes from the east, and that's all they needed to know. The fact that it was blowing towards the west made not one jot of difference to them as they weren't sailors or cyclists but were static farmers.

Does that make sense?

That does make sense. That is something that always confused me, until now.

 

[cchapman]

Prostrate for prostate.

Research into prostrate cancer doubled last year - I guess that is the type of cancer where you lie down and die.

 

[beanzontoast]

Somethink, nothink, anythink....

 

[Over The Hill]

Somethink, nothink, anythink....

They usually say it as summink or nuffink.

Pick up your biro, check the ink level and say "no thanks I have enough". They usually spend the rest of the day working it out.

 

[Arch]

Ah, I asked my husband about this because we do a lot of sailing and the wind direction always seems wrong.

He explained it thus: Way back in the mists of time when Mr & Mrs Early Farmer decided to plant their crops they had to choose a good time. Wind direction was a useful indicator of this - east wind cold, west wind warm & wet, south wind warm & dry, etc etc. They weren't interested in the direction in which the wind was going, but the direction from which it came. In other words, East Wind means it comes from the east, and that's all they needed to know. The fact that it was blowing towards the west made not one jot of difference to them as they weren't sailors or cyclists but were static farmers.

Does that make sense?

Perfectly, thank you, I'd never thought about it, but I know now...

 

[Chrisz]

They usually say it as summink or nuffink.

Pick up your biro, check the ink level and say "no thanks I have enough". They usually spend the rest of the day working it out.

'sumffink' and 'nuffink' - both spelt with two effs - one is silent as in 'Cat' !!

 

[Over The Hill]

'sumffink' and 'nuffink' - both spelt with two effs - one is silent as in 'Cat' !!

Not being tricked with that old one.

 

[threefingerjoe]

But a lot of the stuff which is being imported is recycled German. Don't forget that so many German speaking immigrants went to America that serious consideration was given to replacing English with German as the national language. Not all those German speaking migrants were well educated. Dumm is German for stupid and the nearest English sounding word is dumb which of course means mute. That is how dumb incorrectly came to mean stupid in American. Another example is fresh for cheeky (German frech).

German speaking English: "Throw me down the stairs, my hat!" "Throw the horse over the fence, some hay." "Push me under the truck, that hammer."

 

[threefingerjoe]

English is a constantly evolving language. The job of a dictionary is to report the language as it's being used. We may not like it, but, as today's "incorrect grammar" becomes entrenched, dictionaries eventually pick it up.

A good friend, who is the head of the "Intensive English Dept." at a university (that is, English for students from non-English speaking countries) once advised me, "Don't try to learn English. It's too difficult!" ;-)

 

[Aperitif]

German speaking English: "Throw me down the stairs, my hat!" "Throw the horse over the fence, some hay." "Push me under the truck, that hammer."

 

[Nicensleazy]

Its a pet hate of mine. Unfortunately, the English language has been abused and lacerated! People just don't know how to use the English language. Text talk etc, young people just think this is the norm! Well, America has a large part to play in this. If we take language, its a very good boarder protector. France, Italy and Germany have not had the deluge of crap from the USA as we have experienced!

 

[MajorMantra]

My pet hate: "Chrimbo"

It's not a word, it's ugly, and it has the same number of syllables as Christmas. Why??

Matthew

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Its a pet hate of mine. Unfortunately, the English language has been abused and lacerated! People just don't know how to use the English language. Text talk etc, young people just think this is the norm! Well, America has a large part to play in this. If we take language, its a very good boarder protector. France, Italy and Germany have not had the deluge of crap from the USA as we have experienced!

There are a few too many exclamation marks in this post for someone who professes to dislike people misusing the English language. You've missed an apostrophe too, and your sentence structure could be clearer.

 

[Nicensleazy]

There are a few too many exclamation marks in this post for someone who professes to dislike people misusing the English language. You've missed an apostrophe too, and your sentence structure could be clearer.

Yes, I have lived in France and Italy!

 

[Arch]

English is a constantly evolving language. The job of a dictionary is to report the language as it's being used. We may not like it, but, as today's "incorrect grammar" becomes entrenched, dictionaries eventually pick it up.

I think there's a difference between the meaning of words evolving, and people using completely the wrong word!