You think English is easy??

[Suzsmokeyallan]

I'm siding with Richard here, the Queens English is pure and correct English and it needs to be kept individual as it is. Its also a language comprised of many words sourced from other languages and so spelling such as "tyre" and "centre" from those origins are original and correct.
I mean really whats next, for example words with a french origin such as "rendevous" will be now spelt "Rondevu" to make it look phonetically correct for English?.
Its bad enough with abbreviations such as "nite"and other chopped up bastardizations now common place in texting that will completely remove the original spelling within another generation.

Joisey your Spanglish irregardless can also be broken down into two words joined together. The Spanish verb ir "to go" followed by the English word "regardless" and could easily be interpreted as one new word togoregardless.
Oh this is not good how ever you look at it.

[tz375]

And I was trying to be funny. In reality any live language will continue to change over time. Some words will fall out of use and new words will be created. That doesn't excuse two trends in American English - one is to shorten words and the other is to extend words. I heard someone say they wanted to conversate yesterday - Err. That would be to converse. It's remarkably common for people to forget the real word and to make up some extended word.

And it doesn't excuse the Cumbrians or Yorkshiremen or Scots or what's the word for people from Cornwall? They have dialects and words carried over from past dead languages that confuse and captivate. We lose something when we lose that complexity. There are so many languages that we are losing. I read somewhere that we will lose half of the world's 6000 languages by 2050.

[Suzsmokeyallan]

Yes I know things do evolve and that's standard fare BUT it has to evolve to a positive side with attributes, not on a negative trend that leads to extinction.
Whats with this word presentation, pronounced PREsentation that American newscasters have a fondness for, when its clearly presentation with no stressing the PRE.
Another saying now commonly used is the word "drug" as in this sentence "I drug it home with me". Its only dragged in past tense, there is no "drug" unless its a chemically based compound.
We have usable and so off of that idea people created doable, ah its hopeless really, but it might soon be hopeable instead of hopeful who really knows.
Speaking of which that word may soon become knowable.

[tz375]

Good points. I hate "drug", but I like "doable".
Usable: able to be used.
Doable: able to be done That I can rationalize.

Hopeful: Filled with hope
Hopeable: Capable of being Hoped.

I'm off to Office Dee-poe to get some Pree-sentation materials. That doesn't bother me much if any. Americans seem to put the emphasis on a different syllable than regular English pronunciation and there are dialectic/regional differences too. That's a reflection of history and diversity and I'm OK with that.

It's the lazy common usage that gets to be a little frustrating at times. And as for malapropisms - don't even go there...Oh. That's where we started

[oldjapanesebikes]

'Drug' as a past tense of 'drag' has its roots in Germanic language (Dutch, German and Swedish as well as Old English) and so likely has just persisted in local dialects as a carry-forward archaic.

Inflexible languages die - within English, there are on average 14.7 new or re-purposed words entering into common usage daily Along with those are words that fall out of common usage - not many people still use 'thee' and 'thou' unless reading the an old version of the bible (of which there are well over 30 different English translations - for the record, I prefer the original King James version). The word 'sexting' did not exist five years ago (it is in the current Oxford English dictionary by the way) and prior to the 1920's if you had talked about a 'trailer', it would not have been a short film clip, 'bath' was not pronounced 'bahth' in England until the early 1800's, and likewise American's stopped using 'cheques' and started using 'checks' as a banking tool in the 1800's. English just constantly evolves - who has the right to say what is 'correct' ?

Another good book for anyone else also still waiting for the snow to melt, is 'Made in America' by Bill Bryson. Like most Bryson books this is a very enjoyable read about the evolution of American English, culture and mannerisms. If you've ever wondered why it is many Americans cut their food the way they do when eating, where the term 'g-string' comes from or how Hollywood got its name when there isn't any (holly that is) then this is the book for you !

[Suzsmokeyallan]

If you've ever wondered why it is many Americans cut their food the way they do when eating

Regarding cutting food, I see a lot of people are now holding a fork vertically with a closed fist while cutting a steak for example. Besides looking unskilled, it appears as if they are trying to make a hole into the plate as well with the tip.

The word 'sexting' did not exist five years ago

Ok Ian I missed that one, do tell me about the sexting that only started about five years ago

[CumbriaSuzuki]

I don’t disagree with either of you, in fact I think all three of us are united in our (probable) middle aged grumpiness of change, especially our language.

I have no beef whatsoever with regional dialect and slang, it’s what keeps the English language colourful (colorful) and alive (unlike French which only recently accepted 'weekend' and 'sandwich'), just as long as it doesn’t enter the world of official written text that’s okay with me.

If you ever heard a Cumbrian sheep farmer counting his flock you’d never want to see this dialect or any other for that matter lost. In fact, if you don’t already know this is their way of counting to 20 in what has been described as mixture of Celt and old Norse and there is numerous variations on this within only 30 miles of one another, depending which valley you’re in:

1 Yan
2 Taen
3 Tedderte
4 Medderte
5 Pimp
6 Haata
7 Slaata
8 Lowra
9 Dowra
10 Dick
11 Yan-a-Dick
12 Taen-a-Dick
13 Tedder-a-Dick
14 Medder-a-Dick
15 Mimph
16 Yan-a-Mimph
17 Taen-a-Mimph
18 Tedder-a-Mimph
19 Medder-a-Mimph
20 Gigget

BTW I wasn’t trying to suggest that we (the English) were wholeheartedly taking on French words (God forbid!) but we were more influenced over the last 200 years that the Americans were, especially with modern scientific and industrialized words that weren’t around two centuries ago, but even then we Anglicized them.

I also overheard someone the other day describing how and when the last man in England was hung, WTF! Don’t they know it’s not hung, it’s hanged… but you can’t tell them .

[tz375]

Gan yam marra?

[jkevinlilly]

Should I expand this discussion into "Appalachian American" dialects and what they do to the english language just to make it interesting??? :^)

[Fritz500]

I just finished reading "Origin of the Specious" by Patricia O'Conner who is a bit of a etymology & linguistics whizz. She researched a few words that I happen to dislike that are used in the US such as "axed" instead of "asked". Seems like "axed was the original word and has re-evolved back to it from "asked". Bugger. She even suggests that American English is in some ways a purer form of English. Worth a read.

Why "solder" is pronounced in the US as "sodder" eludes me.

Australians mumble and speak too fast so its hard to know how much they are stuffing up the language.

I've had my bitch for the day...back to replacing fork seals.

Cheers

[rbond]

fork seals??? I thought this thread was on tubular lubrication retaining rings insertion and locking positioning protocol. Whew!!

[Fritz500]

fork seals??? I thought this thread was on tubular lubrication retaining rings insertion and locking positioning protocol. Whew!!