Wrong words

[swee'pea99]

Amount/number is one that bugs me, and that my kids seem unable to grasp. 'A large amount of teachers'. But as someone said earlier, it's not wrong words that really get my goat so much as that Antipodean uplift? You know, where every sentence is a question? And you can't speak to someone without wanting to poke them in the eye? And just shout STOP DOING THAT, FOR &^$$^&%%$'s SAKE! My oldest has started doing it and it makes me want to scream.

 

[Mr Pig]

Some new words are really good. Like ' fugly ' :0)

In fact, I made up a new word. I invented the word ' whiz-e ', meaning a short, quick email, and I used it as often as I could to see if by the power of the tinternet I could get it into common use. I've never seen anyone else use it ;0)

 

[swee'pea99]

I started using 'eme' in the same way, as in 'phone or eme', but as with your invention, sightings have been thin on the ground.

 

[Bromptonaut]

Love your avatar B, where is it?

Callanish, Isle of Lewis.

 

[swee'pea99]

I know someone who claims to have invented the French word "courriel" (meaning email).

But he is a right twat, so I'm not sure.

Does it matter? Surely the French will stick email along with le shopping and le weekend in their grab-bag of adopted Albionery. 'Cuurriel'? Non. Can't see it me'sen.

 

[snorri]

reflexive pronoun.

:?:

 

[yello]

When asked <what the French called the weekend before the introduction of 'le weekend'> the Frenchman shrugged - all Gallic like - and replied 'Sunday' (dimanche probably, but you get the point).

In my French experience email is called, somewhat surprisingly, email. Many/a lot/some technology words tend to be the English equivalents, especially where expedience might play a role. For instance, the French for 'laptop' is 'ordinateur portable'... but laptop is commonly understood and used. Similarly, my wife and I will refer to some stuff in it's French name rather than English, either because there is no exact English translation or where the French is actually simpler. It's just language in action; the tools aren't as important as the result.

 

[rich p]

but I feel very resistant to things such as 'medalling' (as a verb) and to dumbing down.

(

Am I mistaken, Auntie, or haven't you just done the same with 'dumbing down' or was that a second example without inverted commas?

 

[Arch]

yesterday i was trying to find what you called something of new zealand i.e. to new zealand as australian is to australia. i'm completely stumped, despite asking a professional proof reader (who goes there on holiday) and checking online.

but yes, when people get the easy ones wrong, it's a tad irritating.

Isn't it just "New Zealand"? Like "New Zealand lamb"? I imagine it's the eqivalent of those plurals that are the same word as the singular, like sheep - an example that doesn't fit the general pattern - the genaral pattern being to change the word. Thinking about it, we use the same principle with many county products - Somerset Cider, Melton Mowbray Pies. We don't say Somersetian, or Melton Mowbrish (although I like that last one!)

The thing about sentences that sound like questions is a properly recognised phenomenon (It came up in one of my OU degree courses) and is called something like Australian Rising Inflexion. Apparently it was first noticed among Australian schoolgirls of early/mid teen age, and is thought to be a sort of friendship/acceptance strategy. By turning your statements into questions, you invite people to agree with you, and give the impression that you are seeking their opinion, rather than just stating your own. It spread rapidly in the age of Aussie soaps like Neighbours and Home and Away. In a way, I guess it's related to the use of phrases we use on the forum like IMO, and AFAIK - a sort of "this is what I think, or was told, but don't shoot me down if I'm wrong".

I agree language changes, and you can't stop that, but it's annoying when people use a completely wrong word, like pacific when they mean specific.

Another pet hate of mine, which I know some people don't agree with, is the tendency of people to say "one of the only", as in "This is one of the only buildings of this sort left in the country". I think it should be 'this is the only', or 'this is one of the few'. 'The only', to me, siginfies one and one alone, so something can't be 'one of' it...

 

[swee'pea99]

Like things being fairly unique...

 

[rich p]

'air on the side of safety' irritates me more than it should!

 

[Arch]

[quote name='swee'pea99']Like things being fairly unique...[/QUOTE]

Yes, exactly!

 

[John the Monkey]

There's a plethora of business speak ("Going forward..." grrr) that annoys me far more than it should. What does seem to have become more prevalent in personal communication (at least it seems so to me) is the idea that one writes exactly as one speaks (hence "of" for have, etc) and the use of txtspk. The latter is particularly irritating in media that don't require the forced brevity of the SMS (indeed, SMS themselves no longer require this in most cases).

 

[mickle]

Callanish, Isle of Lewis.

I was going to say Callanish but it looks rather robust for a Callanish stone and I thought I would look a twit if I guessed it wrong..!

 

[Rhythm Thief]

The latter is particularly irritating in media that don't require the forced brevity of the SMS (indeed, SMS themselves no longer require this in most cases).

I've never, ever written a text in textspeak. Mine are always properly punctuated too. Jesus, I'm either getting old or turning into Lynne Truss (although now I think about it, I was always like this, even when I was small).