Arrrrgh, I tried my best to restrain myself, but I couldn't. "Irregardless"???????
But what about my usage of "prioritize", "myself", and "absolutely?"
American English has turned into a contest.
If you use more syllables than the other person, you win!
For example, if you wish to answer in the affirmative, you could say:
"Yes."
"Correct."
"Exactly."
or demonstrate just how big your syllables are with
"Absolutely."
"Irregardless" is not correct, but it has one more syllable than the correct form. Ditto for most people's usage of the word "myself" which has one more syllable than the caveman-sounding "me."
"If you are unsure about anything, please contact myself."
But what about my usage of "prioritize", "myself", and "absolutely?"
American English has turned into a contest.
If you use more syllables than the other person, you win!
For example, if you wish to answer in the affirmative, you could say:
"Yes."
"Correct."
"Exactly."
or demonstrate just how big your syllables are with
"Absolutely."
"Irregardless" is not correct, but it has one more syllable than the correct form. Ditto for most people's usage of the word "myself" which has one more syllable than the caveman-sounding "me."
"If you are unsure about anything, please contact myself."
How anti-sesquapedalian of you!
My pet peeve right now is that "whom" seems to be making a resurgence. Every day, I see people writing things like "Anyone whom would like to talk to myself should contact me immediately, irregardless."
I once read somewhere that 90% of the times someone corrects a person stating that the word "whom" should be used instead of "who", the correcting person is wrong.
That sounds about right. I'm beginning toi suspect that people think "whom" is fancy or formal. It's sort of like "penultimate," which everyone seems to think means "really, reallly ultimate."
The horror! Just last week the dean of my senior class got up in front of everybody and gave us a speech about discipline and such during our last few weeks at school. Now this was great and all, plenty bearable, but at some point she started out with the "irregardless". I'm not terribly pedantic most of the time, but my Latin teacher pounded into my head a few years back that this was the worst "word" ever, so I broke out laughing in the middle of her lecture (no, I'm not one of the cool kids). Just had to get that off my chest.
That sounds about right. I'm beginning toi suspect that people think "whom" is fancy or formal. It's sort of like "penultimate," which everyone seems to think means "really, reallly ultimate."
Harumph.
Come on now... The Penultimate Supper is realllllllly the ultimate of suppers - a mother of a blow-out, y'know?
I think this entire thread highlights the problem with modern language. Who is the definite authority? Which english (British, USA, Aussie) is the "standard English". With everybody changing and ammending the language as they please (the words luke duh, google being added to dictionaries) it is tough to say where the line is between "good" and "bad" english. Or should there be a line?
Of course the problem with this is that after a point the exact meaning one's written and spoken language is lost... which defeats the purpose of a language in the first place.
It would be reasonable to say that, until there is one unified recognised authority that produces a standard for a language and this standard is agressively maintained and enforced by society, the language will continue to degrade in terms of people being able to precisely understand each other.
It would be reasonable to say that, until there is one unified recognised authority that produces a standard for a language and this standard is agressively maintained and enforced by society, the language will continue to degrade in terms of people being able to precisely understand each other.
There has never been a unified recognized authority for English and there never will be. Furthermore, your suggestion that the language will "continue to degrade" assumes (in its imagery) that there was some point of perfection and all usage after that has been somehow a corruption. That's simply not true. Languages change, and with the exception of idiom and accent, the written word in English is still mutually intelligible regardless of what kind of English you speak.
...It would be reasonable to say that, until there is one unified recognised authority that produces a standard for a language and this standard is agressively maintained and enforced by society, the language will continue to degrade...
I would use the word "evolve" instead of "degrade"
Contrast that with the most famous example of Middle English, Chaucer:
Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote...
Ah, the memories! When I took the majors' introduction to English poetry, the professor opened the semester by having us all memorize the introduction to Cantebury Tales, and graded us on how authentic our recitation sounded (he spoke Middle English so well, we all suspected he was a contemporary - he certainly looked the part). It has forever after been seared into my brain. That was simultaneously one of the biggest mistakes I made in course selection and one of the most challenging and mind-bending courses I had the hindsight pleasure of suffering through.
Comments
Originally posted by tilt
Arrrrgh, I tried my best to restrain myself, but I couldn't. "Irregardless"???????
But what about my usage of "prioritize", "myself", and "absolutely?"
American English has turned into a contest.
If you use more syllables than the other person, you win!
For example, if you wish to answer in the affirmative, you could say:
"Yes."
"Correct."
"Exactly."
or demonstrate just how big your syllables are with
"Absolutely."
"Irregardless" is not correct, but it has one more syllable than the correct form. Ditto for most people's usage of the word "myself" which has one more syllable than the caveman-sounding "me."
"If you are unsure about anything, please contact myself."
Originally posted by JimDreamworx
But what about my usage of "prioritize", "myself", and "absolutely?"
American English has turned into a contest.
If you use more syllables than the other person, you win!
For example, if you wish to answer in the affirmative, you could say:
"Yes."
"Correct."
"Exactly."
or demonstrate just how big your syllables are with
"Absolutely."
"Irregardless" is not correct, but it has one more syllable than the correct form. Ditto for most people's usage of the word "myself" which has one more syllable than the caveman-sounding "me."
"If you are unsure about anything, please contact myself."
How anti-sesquapedalian of you!
My pet peeve right now is that "whom" seems to be making a resurgence. Every day, I see people writing things like "Anyone whom would like to talk to myself should contact me immediately, irregardless."
Harumph.
Originally posted by JimDreamworx
American English has turned into a contest.
If you use more syllables than the other person, you win!
My favorite is "utilize" in place of "use." "The purpose of this manual is to teach you how to utilize our software."
Originally posted by midwinter
However, some people use it when they don't.
I think you misspelled "utilize".
Originally posted by JimDreamworx
Irregardless
The horror! Just last week the dean of my senior class got up in front of everybody and gave us a speech about discipline and such during our last few weeks at school. Now this was great and all, plenty bearable, but at some point she started out with the "irregardless". I'm not terribly pedantic most of the time, but my Latin teacher pounded into my head a few years back that this was the worst "word" ever, so I broke out laughing in the middle of her lecture (no, I'm not one of the cool kids). Just had to get that off my chest.
I think you misspelled "utilize".
Ah, the [s] vs [z] debate - [s] is British/Australian English and [z] is used in American English AFAIK.
....It's sort of like "penultimate," which everyone seems to think means "really, reallly ultimate."
I thought that's what it means. What does it mean then?
Originally posted by sunilraman
Originally posted by midwinter
....It's sort of like "penultimate," which everyone seems to think means "really, reallly ultimate."
I thought that's what it means. What does it mean then?
It means "next to last."
Originally posted by midwinter
That sounds about right. I'm beginning toi suspect that people think "whom" is fancy or formal. It's sort of like "penultimate," which everyone seems to think means "really, reallly ultimate."
Harumph.
Come on now... The Penultimate Supper is realllllllly the ultimate of suppers - a mother of a blow-out, y'know?
Of course the problem with this is that after a point the exact meaning one's written and spoken language is lost... which defeats the purpose of a language in the first place.
It would be reasonable to say that, until there is one unified recognised authority that produces a standard for a language and this standard is agressively maintained and enforced by society, the language will continue to degrade in terms of people being able to precisely understand each other.
Originally posted by skatman
It would be reasonable to say that, until there is one unified recognised authority that produces a standard for a language and this standard is agressively maintained and enforced by society, the language will continue to degrade in terms of people being able to precisely understand each other.
There has never been a unified recognized authority for English and there never will be. Furthermore, your suggestion that the language will "continue to degrade" assumes (in its imagery) that there was some point of perfection and all usage after that has been somehow a corruption. That's simply not true. Languages change, and with the exception of idiom and accent, the written word in English is still mutually intelligible regardless of what kind of English you speak.
Additionally, you split an infinitive.
...It would be reasonable to say that, until there is one unified recognised authority that produces a standard for a language and this standard is agressively maintained and enforced by society, the language will continue to degrade...
I would use the word "evolve" instead of "degrade"
Originally posted by midwinter
Contrast that with the most famous example of Middle English, Chaucer:
Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote...
Ah, the memories! When I took the majors' introduction to English poetry, the professor opened the semester by having us all memorize the introduction to Cantebury Tales, and graded us on how authentic our recitation sounded (he spoke Middle English so well, we all suspected he was a contemporary - he certainly looked the part). It has forever after been seared into my brain. That was simultaneously one of the biggest mistakes I made in course selection and one of the most challenging and mind-bending courses I had the hindsight pleasure of suffering through.
Originally posted by midwinter
Additionally, you split an infinitive.
In an effort to seriously intentionally piss you off probably. Tee hee.