'Can I get?'

[Cubist]

While the supposed Americanisation of our culture and language annoys me too, "gotten" is not an example of it. It doesn't mean "got"; instead, it bears the same relationship to "got" as "forgotten" does to "forgot". And "gotten" was in use in Britain long before America was invented.

Exactly. As in "ill-gotten gains" an adverbial form of the past tense.

English is very much an evolutionary language. Strict grammarians (and I have to admit to being a little pedantic on occasions) unfortunately run the risk of being stuck in the past, and railing against modern expression based on a set of "rules" which, unfortunately for them, are occasionally no longer valid.

The English language develops and changes over time based on external influence. It has changed from Chaucerian times for example almost beyond recognition, with Anglo-Saxon phrasing and grammar being muddled, mixed and some would say "bastardised" with Latin, Norman French, Americanism and so on.

There is however a huge difference between grammatical evolution ( esp the adoption of external phrasing and terminology) and poor or sloppy grammar. The use of "less" where "fewer" should be used, the wholly inappropriate use of apostrophes in plurals are two common examples.

The use of "of" where "have " should be used is an accident of pronunciation, and a tendency to write as one hears or speaks rather than the proper use of the conditional tense. (See also the example of people saying "At a pacific time" when they actually mean "specific")

Similarly you hear and read people using the expression "mute point" which is neither correct, nor does it make any etymological sense, where they really mean "moot", referring to an historical debating system.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

"One foul swoop" is one that irritates me. B)

 

[Rhythm Thief]

This from the BBC website:

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, said she had "no doubt" Mr Gove's decision would be welcomed by teachers.
"I have frequently said that if the GTCE was abolished tomorrow, few would notice and even less would care," she said.
​

And she's a teacher!

I heard that on the radio. Made me wince.B)

 

[Aperitif]

It's an attractive way to say it though RT! It is only evasion that makes me wince - all the rest is just a different picture to the one printed in my memory.
In one foul swoop I would of got a new dictionary.
I do ha'av'er, have a mini-wince on seeing the word 'license'. B)

 

[BearPear]

My pet punctuation peeve is the random apostrophe (my local crisp manufacturer even had one on their packaging, it's probably still there, Mr Seabrook).

I can't stand to hear a "th" pronounced as an "f" - my children know this and it is one of their favourite wind-ups. Fink, free, fought etc, oh how we laugh!

 

[Aperitif]

BarePair is not advisable in this weather I hear...

 

[Rhythm Thief]

My pet punctuation peeve is the random apostrophe (my local crisp manufacturer even had one on their packaging, it's probably still there, Mr Seabrook).

Seabrook's? Or was it somewhere else? Seabrook's would be perfectly correct.

 

[darkstar]

See my post above. The "z" in such words is also something we've been doing in Britain for a long time.

Well it depends who you mean by 'we' but it is quite funny how people seem to use that method. I still use 's' and so do quite a few people as far as i know. I suppose it's when people use a mixture of the two when the problems arise.

 

[Over The Hill]

American will also say "can I fix you a gin and tonic"
Now apart from getting a gin and tonic it is really annoying!

As to the question in the coffee places "Regular?" I annoy my wife by saying "no just once thank you".

 

[BearPear]

Seabrook's? Or was it somewhere else? Seabrook's would be perfectly correct.

Nope it wasn't anything to do with the name - I may have to buy a packet to remind me of the offending phrase!

 

[Stig-OT-Dump]

"I say, Mine Host, could I possibly trouble you for a pint of Buckie?" seems to work for me..

Like anyone wants to argue points of grammar with someone drinking buckie - ya dobber!

The one that gets on my wick is "definately".

 

[battered]

I think that analyse/analyze and categorise/categorize and the like are generally regarded as acceptable variant spellings at present. There's nothing wrong with that, we already have variant pronunciations for words like bath and grass, with Northern accents favouring the hard "a" over the Southern "baath" and "graass". Neither is incorrect.

 

[slowmotion]

Like anyone wants to argue points of grammar with someone drinking buckie - ya dobber!

.

Excellent!