Conan the Grammarian

[clarinetJWD]

I also hate, the "do you want to come with" Come with what exactly???

I could take this in a whole new direction, that I think would get us both banned. So I'll refrain

But yeah, I hate that too...
Believe it or not, I've heard a lot more bad English here in the East than I ever did back home...

 

['Daniel']

There aren't any soft Hs in the english language are there? Not that I can think of. It's always "A".

one thing I loathe and heard alot at school was this:

"Can I go toilet?"

....what?....I'm sorry what was that? An attempt at English maybe? :x

 

[clarinetJWD]

....what?....I'm sorry what was that? An attempt at English maybe? :x

:lmao: :lmao: :lmao:

 

[jocose]

I nearly completely agree with you. Except I think it should be 'a' in front of all hard 'h's and an in front of all soft ones. Say this: "That a hard one." and then say this: "That's an hard one.". The 'an' just doesn't sound right.

I thought that that was what I said..."a" on hard, "an" on soft. Ah, but I said that there are some who say "an" on all "h"s. No, I agree with you.

But, oddly, in writing it doesn't look so bad (I don't mean to imply that I will do it, but it just doesn't look so bad).

 

[clarinetJWD]

There aren't any soft Hs in the english language are there? Not that I can think of. It's always "A".

Well, there are a few, but that's an honest mistake

 

[Corry]

There aren't any soft Hs in the english language are there? Not that I can think of. It's always "A".

one thing I loathe and heard alot at school was this:

"Can I go toilet?"

....what?....I'm sorry what was that? An attempt at English maybe? :x

There are tons of soft Hs. Jocose mentioned one...'hour'. do you say 'a hour'? Or, 'a herb'?

 

[jocose]

There aren't any soft Hs in the english language are there? Not that I can think of. It's always "A".

one thing I loathe and heard alot at school was this:

"Can I go toilet?"

....what?....I'm sorry what was that? An attempt at English maybe? :x

Daniel, is that cuz their missing the "to the" or because the said "can" instead of "May"?

Oh, and here are few soft H words:

hour
honest
hono(u)r
human (if you pronounce it like my dad--"umin" what up wi' dat?)

 

[jocose]

There are tons of soft Hs. Jocose mentioned one...'hour'. do you say 'a hour'? Or, 'a herb'?

Daniel's British, he probably would say "a Herb" Don't forget, they pronounce it like the name

 

['Daniel']

Oh ok, didn't think of any of those. Oh yeah I forgot about the whole "erb" thing in America. The advert doesn't work as well in england "We've got the urge to Herbal"

 

[Rob]

"Borrow me that ruler."

WTF?

 

[LaFoto]

This is so funny to read. And here I was thinking that only Germans did all sorts of silly mistakes in speaking their own language such as leaving out the verb after the use of an auxiliary and other such things!

I am relieved it happens to other speakers of their own language in this world, too!

Actually, I think it is pure LUCK that I managed to learn orthography and grammar fairly easily in the three languages that I speak. Pure luck. No achievement of mine. Others work hard on their spelling, too, and find it difficult to learn. I never did. Same about grammar. (But my fingers always type "grammer", that is a NUISANCE....:angry1: )

Well, now I must leave you for a while and go watch my absolutely favourite programme on TV (all German, so no use telling you what it is, but it is only on for an hour, and afterwards I shall be back )

(Ah, and the "a" and "an" thing also distinguishes between real abbreviations and acronyms like "NASA" as opposed to "NBC" - only two examples coming to mind right now).

See you later!

 

[LaFoto]

...he probably would say "a Herb" ...

Americans don't ?????? :shock:

Later... must be off.

 

[jocose]

Daniel, What's ROP cleaning stuff? Royal Orb Polish?


Ah, which reminds me of yet another peeve, and this one's a biggie working in the government and all.

All letters are NOT Acronyms. An acronym is ONLY when the letters form a word. Anything else that you pronounce as letters or truncate are abbreviations. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), you don't say, "N-A-S-A" you pronounce it like a word. LTD (limited) is an abbreviation, you say "L-T-D" (just try to pronouce that--Welsh and Polish speakers don't count). INC., is actually pronounced "inc," but it's an abbreviation. Oh, and acronyms are always spelled in all caps.

More acronyms:
POSH (although it's lost it's acronym status--Port outbound Starboard Homeward)
KITT (Knight Industries Two Thousand--for you 80s fans)
UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization)
FUBAR (f'ed up beyond all recognition)
AWOL (abscent without official leave)

Abbreviations:
Blvd.
Rte.
CIA
RCMP
Esq

 

[jocose]

This is so funny to read. And here I was thinking that only Germans did all sorts of silly mistakes in speaking their own language such as leaving out the verb after the use of an auxiliary and other such things!

LaFoto, I think you just need to turn the page in the book. I hear that those pesky Germans put their verbs at the end of their 5 page sentences.:lmao:

Wasn't it Mark Twain who said that you only needed to know about 10 words in German,and you just keep rearranging them into different compound words to make sentences?

Oh, and I always want to writer sentance and grammer too

 

['Daniel']

"Borrow me that ruler."

WTF?

]

Oh goodness that one is disgraceful. But I fidn it funny when people say it.

Another one is "effect" and "affect". Not really that annoying but it's nice when someone gets it right.

oh and La Foto NASA is an abbreviation and also an acronym. They are for all intents and purposes the same thing.