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Post by Geoff on Oct 9, 2011 23:15:33 GMT
I've recently heard, on a number of occasions, ' snuck' used for the past tense of the verb ' to sneak'. For some reason it sounded wrong; but when I stopped to think about it, was it wrong? I would have said ' sneaked' was the past tense, but believe I might have used ' snuck' myself. Even as I prepare this post, ' snuck' is being underlined in red. A Google search for the conjugation of the verb gives me this site where ' snuck' is not mentioned and this site where ' snuck' appears to be listed as an alternative. My Macquarie Dictionary lists ' snuck' as a colloquial past tense for ' sneak', with ' sneaked' as the correct form of the past tense. What would you use as the past tense of ' sneak? I'm most interested in Aussie usage, of course.
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Post by Dave on Oct 9, 2011 23:49:02 GMT
My Macquarie Dictionary lists ' snuck' as a colloquial past tense for ' sneak', with ' sneaked' as the correct form of the past tense. The same for my (American) Webster's Dictionary. Many people use snuck as the past tense. In fact, sneaked almost sounds awkward when we know snuck is available! I remember this from high school: I was the only one in our aa English class to get this correct on a quiz. Yes, it could've been luck!
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Post by Sue M-V on Oct 11, 2011 10:47:30 GMT
I always think that "snuck" is like "brung" - something said mainly in jest, but as Dave says, "snuck" has a certain appeal, since it doesn't sound quite so obviously wrong as "brung", and is shorter than "sneaked".
I bet there are more such verbs, but I can't bring any to mind right now. Perhaps others can.
Sue
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Post by Tone on Oct 11, 2011 20:17:40 GMT
Surely it's: "sneak", "snuck", and "snicken".
Tone
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Post by Twoddle on Oct 11, 2011 21:42:34 GMT
Surely it's: "sneak", "snuck", and "snicken". Tone Where does "snook" fit in?
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Post by Sue M-V on Oct 12, 2011 17:02:53 GMT
That's something you cock at people, Twoddle - not a verb at all! Sue
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Post by Twoddle on Oct 12, 2011 22:31:50 GMT
That's something you cock at people, Twoddle - not a verb at all! Sue Yes, of course. I meant "snooked". Interestingly, Word Web defines "snook" as "Large tropical American food and game fishes of coastal and brackish waters; resemble pike". Personally, I doubt you could cock one, although I dare say you could cook one. (Chambers has the more traditional definition of putting one's thumb to one's nose to express contempt or derision.)
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Post by Alan Palmer on Oct 13, 2011 11:43:45 GMT
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Post by Alan Palmer on Oct 13, 2011 11:49:03 GMT
I bet there are more such verbs, but I can't bring any to mind right now. Perhaps others can. There is dive ... dove ( dived).
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Post by Twoddle on Oct 15, 2011 15:26:22 GMT
I don't understand why "snuck" has become so popular; after all, we don't use: Luck as the past tense of leak; Puck as the past tense of peek; Ruck ditto reek; or Suck ditto seek.
I'd most definitely never consider "snuck" to be the past tense of "sneak".
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Post by Sue M-V on Oct 15, 2011 18:34:18 GMT
As I tried to suggest earlier, Twoddle, I think it was (at least originally) done for humorous effect. I can see that it might become popular, partly because it sounds somewhat droll, but also because it's shorter than "sneaked". It hasn't happened with "brung" because "brought" is heard frequently enough for everyone to recognise that it's correct. We don't do as much sneaking as bringing, so people aren't as familiar with the correct form.
It often happens that the enlightened will break a rule for fun, and then the unenlightened come along and copy them! What was the example you gave before of Michael Crawford's mispronouncing something?
Oh, sorry - I'm forgetting myself, rambling on! We're in the "quick" section, which I usually forget to check!
Sue
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Post by Twoddle on Oct 15, 2011 21:30:49 GMT
What was the example you gave before of Michael Crawford's mispronouncing something? It was "harassed" and "harassing", Sue, which had always been pronounced " harassed" and " harassing (in the UK, anyway) until Crawford's TV series, "Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em" in which his character, Frank Spencer, used catch-phrases such as, "Ooh, Betty, they're har assing me". As you say, the ignorant masses assumed this mispronunciation to be the correct version, adopted it en-masse, and we're now so stuck with the damned thing that even BBC news reporters use it to the exclusion of the correct pronunciation. I'm told that some decades later Crawford apologised for this partial ruination of the language, but that's apocryphal as he was neither the creator of the programme nor the author of its scripts.
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Post by Tone on Oct 17, 2011 20:24:54 GMT
>Where does "snook" fit in?<
Was it not a cold-war US ground-to-air missile? (Way back in't 60's.)
Tone
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Post by Dave on Oct 18, 2011 0:58:39 GMT
But NOW is when you're writing!
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Post by Tone on Oct 18, 2011 13:39:07 GMT
>But NOW is when you're writing! <
But can you be sure of that?
And anyways, THEN is when I'm thinking.
Tone
[Actually, I've tracked it down and it was the Snark.]
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