Author Topic: Grammar that makes you cringe  (Read 834958 times)

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #700 on: 12 February, 2010, 10:51:35 am »
"I'm doning blood."

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #701 on: 12 February, 2010, 12:42:45 pm »
A member of the British olympic team was heard, on the radio this morning, to speak of her potential disappointment if she 'fails to medal.'  :facepalm:
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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #702 on: 12 February, 2010, 01:27:30 pm »
A member of the British olympic team was heard, on the radio this morning, to speak of her potential disappointment if she 'fails to medal.'  :facepalm:

La Pendleton has been guilty of this crime in the past, as well as using "podium" as a verb.

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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #703 on: 12 February, 2010, 01:28:14 pm »
If it was on the radio, are you sure she didn't mean 'meddle'? ;)
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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #704 on: 12 February, 2010, 02:07:59 pm »
If it was on the radio, are you sure she didn't mean 'meddle'? ;)

If I was interviewing these people, I'd play dumb:

"Sorry, what do you want to meddle with? Are you unhappy with the way things are run?"
" ... err ... "
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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #705 on: 12 February, 2010, 02:13:51 pm »

I could have got gold, silver or even a bronze if it wasn't for those "medaling" kids.
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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #706 on: 12 February, 2010, 02:42:48 pm »
Burglarized

*smack*
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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #707 on: 12 February, 2010, 03:19:21 pm »
I can accept "medal" and "podium" as verbs, as there are no single-word equivalents. I don't like them, but I can accept them. But "burglarize" is actuallylonger than the existing standard word. What's the point? And if burglarize is the verb, then is the agent a burglarizer?
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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #708 on: 12 February, 2010, 06:18:55 pm »
Perhaps someone has mentioned this already but one I hate is the use of "invite" as a noun.  It's "invitation".

Calm now  8)

'Loan' as a verb; it's also ambiguous.
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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #709 on: 12 February, 2010, 06:22:21 pm »
And if burglarize is the verb, then is the agent a burglarizer?

carrying out burglarizations.
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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #710 on: 12 February, 2010, 06:25:54 pm »
I can accept "medal" and "podium" as verbs, as there are no single-word equivalents. I don't like them, but I can accept them. But "burglarize" is actuallylonger than the existing standard word. What's the point? And if burglarize is the verb, then is the agent a burglarizer?


I can't accept them. Then there's the use of 'talent' in sport as, e.g. "he's a talent".

As for longer verbs, in Electronic Times in the '80s there was "...if the operator errors..."!
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LEE

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #711 on: 12 February, 2010, 06:42:58 pm »
A lot of these grammatical mistakes are just typical of the way English continues to evolve.

I understand "They're", "There" and "Their" can be seen as mistakes (no excuses on official forms) but things like  "He's a talent" are different.  That's not a mistake as such, it's part of the English language.  If Shakespeare had used it in that context then it would be seen as genius.

Shakespeare made lots of "mistakes" in that respect.

Don't let it make you cringe, just accept hat certain figures of speech can enrich the language. Only when it causes confusion is there a problem.

We all know what "He's a talent" means. Why problemize it?



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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #712 on: 12 February, 2010, 06:49:19 pm »

We all know what "He's a talent" means. Why problemize it?


I know what it means, I'm just not sure why you'd want to describe someone as a small, low value, ancient Greek coin. :D

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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #713 on: 12 February, 2010, 08:23:51 pm »
We used to call the people who impeded our lovely lightshows 'the talent', even if, as happened at the Bros gig, one of the crew marked out an area at the front of the stage labelled 'TFZ' for Talent-Free Zone.

Also known as 'thesps', 'turns', 'timber' etc...
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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #714 on: 12 February, 2010, 10:32:42 pm »
Burglarized

*smack*

I've heard of some unusual operations, but I've always thought that being hospitalised would be impressive. Where would they sew on the operating theatre, do you think?

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #715 on: 13 February, 2010, 10:11:03 pm »

We all know what "He's a talent" means. Why problemize it?


I know what it means, I'm just not sure why you'd want to describe someone as a small, low value, ancient Greek coin. :D
That's not a talent. A talent was a big accounting unit, not a coin. If expressed in metal, it was far too much to be a single coin. It varied from time to time & place to place, but about 25-30 kg of silver seems to have been the norm. That's a good few years pay for most people, back then. The 5th century BC Athenian talent was 6000 drachmas (about 26 kg), & a drachma was reckoned to be a day labourers wage.
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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #716 on: 14 February, 2010, 09:52:50 am »
Never mind all that, how much does a Grecian earn?
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PaulF

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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #717 on: 14 February, 2010, 09:56:36 am »
Never mind all that, how much does a Grecian earn?

And why is the Venetian blind?

border-rider

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #718 on: 14 February, 2010, 09:57:58 am »
So, how does one make a Swiss roll ?

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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #719 on: 14 February, 2010, 09:59:07 am »
The same way as you make a Nazi cross...

Oh bugger - Godwin! :-[
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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #720 on: 14 February, 2010, 10:03:07 am »
The same way as you make a Nazi cross...

Oh bugger - Godwin! :-[
Finally, the thread ends.  ;)

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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #721 on: 14 February, 2010, 10:06:20 am »
Shouldn't you have put an apostrophe before that s?
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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #722 on: 14 February, 2010, 10:21:23 am »
Shouldn't you have put an apostrophe before that s?
Finally, the thread 'ends.  ;)

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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #723 on: 14 February, 2010, 10:25:13 am »
Thank you.
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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #724 on: 14 February, 2010, 05:28:21 pm »
(Am I too late?)
A Colemanball from the BBC's oval ball anchor:
"... and the sheer brutility of the game in Paris ..."

[that was how he emphasised it, just to make his point]
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No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles