English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

[Jdsk]

The thread is about "English language."

I cannot understand how this has moved to discussing the gerundive, which might be more appropriate under the diary of N Molesworth beginning Evry fule kno...

Wasn't that the gerund?



Jonathan

[Audax67]

I heard a good bit of language mangling today on Talksport radio - 'More grist to their elbow', merging about three different sayings in one.
'Tummy' when used by a GP to an adult also grates with me.

Well, they're getting us ready for second childhood.

[colin54]

'Tummy' when used by a GP to an adult also grates with me.

Well, they're getting us ready for second childhood.

Could be, not long now. Hopefully I won't have to say 'it's still all hurty' on my next visit to the surgery.

[JerseyJoe]

Belly, as in beer belly. It always makes me laugh, in as much as I really had one!

[simonineaston]

The persistent and growing habit of broadcasters’ incorrect pronunciation of Bob Moog’s last name… poor bloke’s now brown bread, so he can longer put them right, but I heard an interview with him when he was still alive, in which he patiently explained that it rhymes with the famous fashion rag. It’s a shame that his extraordinary contribution to modern electronic music should deteriorate into mimicking the sound of a cow!

[DaveReading]

The persistent and growing habit of broadcasters’ incorrect pronunciation of Bob Moog’s last name… poor bloke’s now brown bread, so he can longer put them right, but I heard an interview with him when he was still alive, in which he patiently explained that it rhymes with the famous fashion rag. It’s a shame that his extraordinary contribution to modern electronic music should deteriorate into mimicking the sound of a cow!

You would think that at least those synthesized voices would get it right ...

[Jdsk]

Three from recent discussions in this forum. But I've changed the Subject because they certainly don't "do my head in". : - )

The two meanings of diet: in common parlance it means a specific and often time-limited intervention, in scientific parlance just what you eat. The problem occurs is if they get confused. And if the latest thread on the subject ever moves from personal anecdote to the science they might.

Shoo-in: I think of geese, although the recent metaphor probably comes from horse racing. But what do people think of when they write shoe-in?

Lose/loose: this one's a mystery. I don't remember it as a known mistake when I was young, but it sure is now. Why is this? Something to with autocorrection? All insights welcome.

Jonathan

[simonineaston]

Up-side: BBC’s r3 early morning presenter managed to rescue his pronunciation of Moog between the first occasion (which did my head in, innit…) and the second. Whether due to my text sent between the two, who knows? P’raps he was just hedging his bets.
Down-side: Of course spelling affected in a negative way by ubiquitous auto-correction, the dreadful and patronising spawn of the spell-checker… What modern person can be bothered to a) turn the feature off b) check and struggle with further automatic features to edit the word or phrase to its correct version and c) be bothered to look it up if uncertain?

[Jdsk]

...
Down-side: Of course spelling affected in a negative way by ubiquitous auto-correction, the dreadful and patronising spawn of the spell-checker… What modern person can be bothered to a) turn the feature off b) check and struggle with further automatic features to edit the word or phrase to its correct version and c) be bothered to look it up if uncertain?

But why would an autocorrect function change lose to loose? They're both common English verbs...

Jonathan

[Psamathe]

I don't like it when words are hijacked into use that distorts their meaning
eg "organic food" - my understanding is that grown with the help of chemical fertilisers and pesticides is still organic, just that the word has been hijacked into more restrictive use ie "organic food" is organic just as food grown with chemical assistance.

eg unsettled weather as "unsettled" has a meaning that isn't "rainy".

That said, at school I was useless at English so maybe it's my understanding that's faulty.

Ian

[Jdsk]

I don't like it when words are hijacked into use that distorts their meaning
eg "organic food" - my understanding is that grown with the help of chemical fertilisers and pesticides is still organic, just that the word has been hijacked into more restrictive use ie "organic food" is organic just as food grown with chemical assistance.
...

The history:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_f ... f_the_term

This used to cheese me off, probably because of the well-established organic chemistry.

But familiarity has bred content.

Jonathan

[Audax67]

Lose/loose: this one's a mystery. I don't remember it as a known mistake when I was young, but it sure is now. Why is this? Something to with autocorrection? All insights welcome.

Jonathan

We were just taught the difference. Likewise, that between lay and lie. ISTR reading in Time 30-40 years ago that US politicians were starting to figure lay over lie because that way they would be less liable to be misrepresented.

Recently, we watched a film with closed captions where a character said lie but the subtitles rendered it as lay.

[Audax67]

But familiarity has bred content.

Jonathan

Or like O'Slattery's sausages, bread content. "Sure and you can eat them on a Friday" - Bridie McMinn.

[Psamathe]

...
Recently, we watched a film with closed captions where a character said lie but the subtitles rendered it as lay.

TV subtitles can be interesting. I've no idea how they are done these days but I remember maybe 30 years ago watching a French film on Channel 4 late at night with subtitles. It had a lot of very bad language (language that would get somebody from OFCOM round to pull-the-plug in minutes). And the C4 subtitles were an accurate translation. I've re-watched the film on various other subtitled media since and they all seem to have sanitised the subtitles.

Ian

[Jdsk]

But familiarity has bred content.

Or like O'Slattery's sausages, bread content. "Sure and you can eat them on a Friday" - Bridie McMinn.

It's always nice when they're spotted. I was particularly pleased with bred and cheese.

: - )

Jonathan