Drago's English language rant #72

[Saluki]

My neighbour used "ya know what I mean" all the time. Sometimes twice in the same sentence I went for coffee the other day and after the first 10 minutes or so, started counting the times that she used the phrase (to myself, not out loud). I got to 47 and then decided to decline the offer of another cuppa and invented some housework that I really had to do.

 

[Sea of vapours]

And also ...... too, is pretty annoying. It's as if people start the sentence with the 'also' and then by the time they've made their way through the middle section they've forgotten that they started with 'also' so they append 'too', which is entirely redundant. What's more annoying is that I can't help but listen for the near-inevitable 'too' now

 

[John the Monkey]

You're disconcertingly good at that. To the extent I don't believe you can be more than 20 years old

Thank you kindly.

I think.

I do listen to a frightfully large quantity of grime, which may go some way to explaining it.

 

[winjim]

Has anybody yet worked out what the phrase kind regards actually means?

 

[classic33]

Has anybody yet worked out what the phrase kind regards actually means?

Shouldn't it have been capitalised?

 

[Yellow Saddle]

How about when politicians suck up and they call citizens "hard working members of the community"
What is a member of a

Has anybody yet worked out what the phrase kind regards actually means?

It is like "take care" but less irritating. Literally.

 

[winjim]

Shouldn't it have been capitalised?

I have no idea, since it's not a phrase that has any meaning.

It is like "take care" but less irritating. Literally.

I think take care is a perfectly nice and reasonable thing to say to somebody. Unless you say it in a really sinister fashion.

 

[Profpointy]

How about when politicians suck up and they call citizens "hard working members of the community"
What is a member of a


It is like "take care" but less irritating. Literally.

Both absurd things to write. The correct phrase is "your obedient servant" surely?

 

[slowmotion]

[QUOTE 4807214, member: 259"]Language changes quite quickly and it's futile to get upset about it. I find 'regular' jarring when I'd say 'normal', and 'likely' instead of 'probably', but if truth be told, I'm getting on a bit and life moves on.[/QUOTE]
Oh dear! You wouldn't happen to be a "decimate" capitulator, would you?

 

[classic33]

[QUOTE 4807380, member: 259"]Only about 10% of the time.[/QUOTE]
And the other 90%?

 

[Drago]

He only spends a small fraction of his time on other things.

 

[swansonj]

Myriad, umpteen, decimate, exponential, self-deprecate, no doubt(or even just doubt), acid test, liquidate, hospital, angel, awful, fantastic, inmate, square pegs and broken moulds.... the list of examples of the enrichment of our language through changing meanings is literally endless.

 

[Drago]

Woke up in the night, couldn't get back off. Put BBC News on with the volume low. Its either keeps me occupied for an hour if I can't get off, or acts like counting sheep if I can.

Anyway, someone being interviewed said something literally outrageous, and I was literally exploding with rage. I then fell asleep, and now can't remember what itnwas they said.

So now I'm angry with myself for forgetting, and also worried in case I've got early onset Alzheimer's. I'm literally confused. Whatever it was, it was pertinent to this thread.

 

[Accy cyclist]

Dropping the letter T in words annoys me. I hear people under 30 do it mostly. Be''er(better) bu''er(butter)ma''er(matter)are a few examples. Now i expect this as the education authorities encouraged/allowed/promoted this slovenly way of talking about 20 years ago. Even those who work for the BBC use this lazy way of talking. For example one person who works for BBC Radio Lancashire continually says Ever'on when referring to the football club Everton. I pass Radio Lancashire's building quite a lot and have often thought about going into the reception and asking to see this presenter to have it out with him about his slovenly way of speaking.

 

[swansonj]

Dropping the letter T in words annoys me. I hear people under 30 do it mostly. Be''er(better) bu''er(butter)ma''er(matter)are a few examples. Now i expect this as the education authorities encouraged/allowed/promoted this slovenly way of talking about 20 years ago. Even those who work for the BBC use this lazy way of talking. For example one person who works for BBC Radio Lancashire continually says Ever'on when referring to the football club Everton. I pass Radio Lancashire's building quite a lot and have often thought about going into the reception and asking to see this presenter to have it out with him about his slovenly way of speaking.

I was browsing randomly through Fowler last night (as one does) and in the article on "often" he is vaguely regretful at the new southern trend of introducing a pronounced "t" (partly, apparently, because he thinks it will render the long-drawn-out punning "I said often frequently only once" in Pirates of Penzance unintelligible)