|
Post by Verbivore on Mar 13, 2018 0:39:37 GMT
I hate like!
At work today, over three letters to the editor and five entertainer interviews, I removed 87 meaningless, psittacistic likes!
"I was like ready to … "
"He was like so good at it … "
"I was like what are you doing … "
and so forth.
|
|
|
Post by Verbivore on Mar 13, 2018 2:35:59 GMT
To add to my dislikes in today's paper:
The generic verb went: as in "And I went 'Why?'"
No, you didn't go, you said or asked.
Similarly, was: "And I was like 'why?'"
No, you didn't be; you asked.
Perhaps I'm just having a day of the grumps, but I see – and expunge – such nonsenses every in edition.
|
|
|
Post by Twoddle on Mar 13, 2018 12:06:05 GMT
All power to your elbow, Vv. The misuse of "like" and "went" is a curse of modern times.
|
|
|
Post by Little Jack Horner on Mar 13, 2018 13:02:14 GMT
In a way, I agree with you both but let’s not get too carried away but “curse of modern times” and “hate” are a bit hyperbolic (if there is such a word). How do you both feel about child abuse, torture, global warming and civil wars all over the world? I think we pedants should be more measured in our language if we are to convert the rabble. I know hate and like are almost complimentary ideas but hate and love are more so. In the meantime, I really really “hate” walking in the rain!!! And thst justifies the triple exclamation marks!
|
|
|
Post by Verbivore on Mar 13, 2018 13:24:04 GMT
[...] I think we pedants should be more measured in our language if we are to convert the rabble. [...] LJH: I gave up trying to convert the rabble a long time ago. Now I'm just content to be paid for emending their rubbish – even though at times it gives me a major dose of the irrits.
|
|
|
Post by Twoddle on Mar 13, 2018 14:59:33 GMT
LJH, I agree up to a point, but I didn't aver that the misuse of "like" and "went" is the worst possible, most loathsome, offensive and despicable curse of modern times, only that it's a curse of modern times (rather like the use of multiple exclamation marks ).
|
|
|
Post by Little Jack Horner on Mar 16, 2018 14:14:17 GMT
I have just discovered that, in American restaurants, one can opt for mineral water or “tap water” with one’s meal (or, of course, wine or beer or whatever). The odd thing is that the person obtaining the “tap water” does so by turning on the “faucet”. I enjoy discovering things like that. My Aussie daughter-in-law, who was brought up in a world of kilometres, still says that a distant destination is “miles away”.
|
|
|
Post by Verbivore on Mar 16, 2018 20:46:05 GMT
[...] My Aussie daughter-in-law, who was brought up in a world of kilometres, still says that a distant destination is “miles away”. LJH: That still seems to be the common expression here, even among the ‘born metric’ generation. It might take a few generations for the expression to die. My sons – ‘born metric’ – and grandchildren – nowhere near their teen years – say ‘miles away’, though I don’t know if the grands understand what ‘miles’ represent other than a great distance.
|
|
|
Post by Verbivore on Mar 16, 2018 21:17:42 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Verbivore on Mar 17, 2018 21:29:27 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Little Jack Horner on Mar 17, 2018 22:32:04 GMT
Hmm! I’ve never heard a pig go “oink, oink” except in the nursery rhyme. I have always thought it was only American pigs that say that. And why do only American (?) frogs go “ribbit, ribbit”?
Arising from that, why do I find it acceptable to say “I’ve never heard a pig go oink” but not "And I went 'Why?'"? See Vv on March 13th, since “went” is the past participle of “go”. Just wondering.
|
|
|
Post by Verbivore on Mar 17, 2018 23:09:17 GMT
Hmm! I’ve never heard a pig go “oink, oink” except in the nursery rhyme. I have always thought it was only American pigs that say that. And why do only American (?) frogs go “ribbit, ribbit”? Arising from that, why do I find it acceptable to say “I’ve never heard a pig go oink” but not "And I went 'Why?'"? See Vv on March 13th, since “went” is the past participle of “go”. Just wondering. Aussie frogs ribbit or rivet – though we might have acquired the former from US English. Our pigs grunt, but that noise is commonly represented as oink which, to my ears, is nothing like their grunting. As for the go / went: an interesting observation LJH. Perhaps it's because animals aren't regarded as speaking (human language), so they aren't reported as saying their noises; maybe that's why they go oink / ribbit / moo, baa … . On grunting: I've known a few humans who grunt more than they speak, so perhaps it's acceptable to report that they go “grunt” rather than saying it. Just my Sunday morning ramblings. Time to lave the chariot now.
|
|
|
Post by Twoddle on Mar 18, 2018 12:39:37 GMT
And why do only American (?) frogs go “ribbit, ribbit”? According to this Web site, it's all down to Hollywood and the Pacific tree frog. And it seems that pigs only oink in English.
|
|
|
Post by Little Jack Horner on Mar 19, 2018 1:08:42 GMT
Thank you fot that, Twoddle. I am delighted to know the origin of ribbit.
|
|
|
Post by Verbivore on Mar 20, 2018 0:26:43 GMT
|
|