A Requiem for Language

[FPNY]

My sister a retired high school English teacher is the worst speller in the history of man kind. She has mild dyslexia and would tell her students at the start of school that she did not appreciate being giggled at for spelling errors. They seemed to understand and she was a great teacher.

 

[rareboy]

I can't even even. I have made my fortune by the English language. Even though you'd wonder some days whan I spew grrrrbbblll grrrrbll.

I am leaving everything to the great grand son who can pass a high level English exam.

 

[belamyi]

I can't even even. I have made my fortune by the English language.

You mean your small pittance.

 

[johaninsc]

 

[frankfrank]

Although I prefer people to use correct grammar and words because it makes it easier to understand, I am not generally a serious nit picker. I am sure that I make mistakes, and language is an evolving form. I might correct someone so they will know better next time, but it's a small thing. I am a terrible speller, for instance I spelled grammar as grammer but spell check caught me.

That was even more egregious because you were trying to talk about one of your grandparents, right?

I don't think I ever saw this mys-steak until about a decade ago, and suddenly it seems to be nearly universal: HOW is it that the hardware that stops a car is almost always spelled BREAKS nowadays? Other common mistakes (such as OUR/ARE, TO/TOO/TWO, THEY'RE/THERE/THEIR) seem to have appeared much more gradually, over decades. What makes BRAKES/BREAKS so special?

 

[Kahaih]

/\ If people pronounced 'our' properly, we would likely see trouble with 'hour' and 'our'. LOL

I don't know why, but seeing 'to' where I should see 'too' bothers me. Not a lot. But it seems to be more commonly seen these days and I just don't understand why. It can't be much of a shortcut.

 

[Alistair]

The only thing that ever bothers me is when I see someone use the abbreviation ect. instead of the proper etc.

I also agree with Frank, no one uses the correct “brake(s)”. I see it all the time in the comments on Instagram reels. I roughly estimate 90% use breaks instead.

 

[gsdx]

The only thing that ever bothers me is when I see someone use the abbreviation ect. instead of the proper etc.

I mark that down to most people pronouncing it 'ek-SET-ER-ah'.

Personally, I can ignore 'ect', but I cannot ignore 'Xmas', nor can I pronounce it or read it in any other way than 'EX-mus'.

And don't get me going on 'alot'.

 

[Peloso]

Back when magazines were more popular, I remember occasionally hearing people refer to them as books.

 

[cityboy-stl]

The sound that bothers me the most is:
1. Using the letter 'R' where it does not belong: Chi-ner, Russi-er, Coca-Coler, Pizz-er, Tun-er.
2. Not using the letter 'R' where is does belong: Doc-tuh, Flou-uh, Sil-vuh, Bett-uh, Wat-uh, Fath-uh.

You can pay with your: Vis-er, or your Mast-uh C-ah-d.

 

[Peloso]

The sound that bothers me the most is:
1. Using the letter 'R' where it does not belong: Chi-ner, Russi-er, Coca-Coler, Pizz-er, Tun-er.
2. Not using the letter 'R' where is does belong: Doc-tuh, Flou-uh, Sil-vuh, Bett-uh, Wat-uh, Fath-uh.

You can pay with your: Vis-er, or your Mast-uh C-ah-d.

#2 is a regional dialect. You can't blame people for speaking with an accent.

 

[Peloso]

Well you can't.

 

[belamyi]

What's all this fuss really about? The language of Shakespeare died with him...
And if we talk literary style, nothing decent has been produced for the past two centuries, so that all that is left is the rotten common language of rotten common people is... what... a crime? a tragedy?

 

[Peloso]

What's all this fuss really about? The language of Shakespeare died with him...
And if we talk literary style, nothing decent has been produced for the past two centuries, so that all that is left is the rotten common language of rotten common people is... what... a crime? a tragedy?

Some common people are more rotten than others.

 

[belamyi]

Some common people are more rotten than others.

And they only speak some sort of English, to make it even worse.

 

[Peloso]

And they only speak some sort of English, to make it even worse.

Anglo savages!

 

[cityboy-stl]

Well you can't.

I DID NOT SAY BLAMED THEM. I said it bothers me when they do it.

Then YOU can't blame anyone for bad grammar or poor writing, either.

 

[belamyi]

Funniest, maybe, of it all, is what today passes for perfectly acceptable, modern, average, "normal" accent in standard American is a decadence from the one that today would be considered rotten old-fashioned speech.
A requiem for old-Hollywood speech.

 

[cabinfever]

I don't care about any of it if I can understand what someone is talking about.

I have other things that bother me but spelling and the use of punctuations isn't one of them.

I also am guilty of it. I see alot of times I missed a letter in a word - not so much because I don't know how to spell it - I just type fast because any time I am here I am supposed to be doing something else and this allows me to get rid of my stress and redirect.

BTW - I use the word alot ALOT and yeah - I know the correct way to phrase it but I just don't care. I also use hyphens alot inappropriately when I don't feel like putting together a "proper sentence"

 

[gsdx]

I have other things that bother me but spelling and the use of punctuations isn't one of them.

Punctuation is huge for me. If I have to figure out where a sentence ends and the next one begins, I usually just skip over it. People pause naturally at the end of a sentence before starting the next one. A period does the same thing. It doesn't seem like too much to ask.