Words - People are Like Sheep
Apr 29, 2020 11:33:13 #
Apr 29, 2020 11:40:10 #
Why normalcy? We used to say "return to normal". What is competency? We used to judge someone's competence, without tacking a "Y" on the end.
Why continuing on, when "on" is already implied in the word continue (to carry on)?
As photographers do we "focus in" on something, or just focus on the subject (another redundancy).
And when did we start pressurising people to do things? Do we want them to explode? I would love to pressure you all to forgive my little rant, but the list goes on, language evolves, and old farts like me have to "suck it up".
Why continuing on, when "on" is already implied in the word continue (to carry on)?
As photographers do we "focus in" on something, or just focus on the subject (another redundancy).
And when did we start pressurising people to do things? Do we want them to explode? I would love to pressure you all to forgive my little rant, but the list goes on, language evolves, and old farts like me have to "suck it up".
Apr 29, 2020 11:44:42 #
Apr 29, 2020 11:47:35 #
Apr 29, 2020 11:54:17 #
Apr 29, 2020 12:22:03 #
sodapop wrote:
A preposition is a bad word to end a sentence with
I guess it depends. The old story of when Winston Churchill submitted a manuscript and it was returned marked in red where he had ended sentences with a preposition, and he returned it with a note: “Now this is something that up with, I will not put!”
Apr 29, 2020 12:23:29 #
Allie wrote:
I guess it depends. The old story of when Winston Churchill submitted a manuscript and it was returned marked in red where he had ended sentences with a preposition, and he returned it with a note: “Now this is something that up with, I will not put!”
Apr 29, 2020 12:35:45 #
Apr 29, 2020 12:44:16 #
ni hao
Loc: Western US
jerryc41 wrote:
I'm going inside and continue working on my mask n... (show quote)
Also the word "So". It seems many posts begin with "So, I was taking a walk..." Why is so needed?
Apr 29, 2020 12:53:37 #
Of minor annoyance to me are those ignoramuses (ignorami?) who try to sound erudite but don't know that "whence" means "from where" or "from which place" and add an unecessary "from" to a sentence, e.g. "from whence he came...".
Apr 29, 2020 13:08:47 #
Jazztrader wrote:
You mean "People is like sheep," don't you? :-)
Or, "People be like sheeps"
Apr 29, 2020 13:27:17 #
jhkfly wrote:
Of minor annoyance to me are those ignoramuses (ignorami?) who try to sound erudite but don't know that "whence" means "from where" or "from which place" and add an unecessary "from" to a sentence, e.g. "from whence he came...".
Uh-oh...I'm so used to seeing it with the "from" I thought that was correct! So much for my eruditeness. ;0)
Apr 29, 2020 13:30:16 #
aggiedad
Loc: Corona, ca
I fully agree with your comments regarding “up”. They say they “upped” something rather than “increased”. Our language is being reduced to the lowest possible terms. It is as irritating as people who sprinkle their conversations with “like”. There is also the use of “go” instead of “said”. As in , I “go” .... or he/she “goes”... we are the poorer for all this.
Apr 29, 2020 13:45:39 #
Language changes. Ask any linguist. We may appreciate the changes or bemoan them and it makes no difference. We can teach 'correct' grammar in school, but it won't reflect how people actually use the language. The French have an Academy to preserver the 'purity' of the French language, but it doesn't work. Language is what it is.
In linguistics, a distinction is made between prescriptive grammars and descriptive ones. Prescriptive grammars are the ones we learned in school (or not). Someone who has been set up as an authority tells us how we should use the language. Descriptive grammars tell us how people actually use the language. They can be very different.
Sometimes it is a vocabulary change. Enormity used to mean something egregiously bad. Now it just means something that is enormous.
Sometimes the change is more fundamental. Over the last thirty or forty years, adverbs are increasingly being replaced by adjectives. Something is real bad, instead of really bad.
You can like or dislike the changes, but they will happen anyway.
In linguistics, a distinction is made between prescriptive grammars and descriptive ones. Prescriptive grammars are the ones we learned in school (or not). Someone who has been set up as an authority tells us how we should use the language. Descriptive grammars tell us how people actually use the language. They can be very different.
Sometimes it is a vocabulary change. Enormity used to mean something egregiously bad. Now it just means something that is enormous.
Sometimes the change is more fundamental. Over the last thirty or forty years, adverbs are increasingly being replaced by adjectives. Something is real bad, instead of really bad.
You can like or dislike the changes, but they will happen anyway.
Apr 29, 2020 13:45:51 #
chasgroh writes: "So much for my eruditeness. ;0)"
So sorry, chasgroh, the proper word is "erudition"!
So sorry, chasgroh, the proper word is "erudition"!
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