Author Topic: Grammar that makes you cringe  (Read 835189 times)

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #6400 on: 05 January, 2022, 06:54:43 pm »
Æthelred the Unready is widely* acknowledged as the originator of the phrase “That was offside by a fucking mile, ref!”.

* Lie

Damn right it's a lie. As ani fule kno, Æthelred was always complaining1 about the other team taking a penalty or a free kick before the ref blew their whistle.



1 May also contain traces of LIE...
"He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ~ Freidrich Neitzsche

Kim

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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #6401 on: 09 January, 2022, 08:59:20 pm »
Apparently 'showcasing' now means 'showing'...

Via this thread: https://twitter.com/thegyth/status/1479519308120305664

Pingu

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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #6402 on: 09 January, 2022, 10:39:51 pm »
May contain instances of redacting fail.

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #6403 on: 22 January, 2022, 03:39:00 am »
seen in a social media post today: 'to calendar' as a verb:

" Did you calendar a follow up call? "

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #6404 on: 22 January, 2022, 06:51:39 am »
Diaried.

cygnet

  • I'm part of the association
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #6405 on: 22 January, 2022, 07:08:21 am »
Diarized
I Said, I've Got A Big Stick

offcumden

  • Oh, no!
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #6406 on: 22 January, 2022, 03:00:20 pm »
The business of 'verbing' has come up here before (p.228 above).

Goes back a long way - at least to Willy the Shake "Where are the hearts that spaniel'd me at heels?" - probably from Richard II.

I cycled to town, shopped for food, booked a train ticket, chaired a meeting, videoed a bike race in which none of the favourites medalled/podiummed.

Admittedly, sometimes new 'verbings' do sound clunky and contrived - eg podiummed (to my ears, at least) - but they can be handy, and often bring freshness and energy to the language.

Cringe ye not; can't do without them really.  This evening I might do some turboing (must remember not to pig out at dinner), whereas others might feel incentivised to eyeball a bit of wayside dogging.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

offcumden

  • Oh, no!
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #6408 on: 22 January, 2022, 09:14:46 pm »
I read something today that suggested that Johnson might survive 'unscathed' following Sue Gray's report later this week. I am rather hoping that the report will not only be scathing, but that our PM will be scathed to within an inch of his life.  The form 'scathed' seems to have fallen out of use recently, and is listed in some dictionaries as 'archaic'. We should resurrect it for the occasion  :demon:

Mr Larrington

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Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #6410 on: 30 January, 2022, 10:41:25 am »
Cremains, meaning ashes. Saw this in an article about launching Star Trek deaders' ashes into space.  :facepalm:
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

robgul

  • Cycle:End-to-End webmaster
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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #6411 on: 30 January, 2022, 12:02:52 pm »
Two recent crackers in language terms that I've been on the receiving end of recently:

chester draws . . .  chest of drawers   AND  a message from an ebayer in response to a question saying that she wasn't   " . . . o fay . . . "   with ebay.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #6412 on: 30 January, 2022, 12:42:54 pm »
Aye, a nice chester draws in the drawring room.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Kim

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    • Fediverse
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #6413 on: 30 January, 2022, 02:28:50 pm »
"Ofay" for "au fait" seems to be increasingly common, presumably because the term is pretty much unknown outside USAnia.

Mr Larrington

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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #6414 on: 30 January, 2022, 02:37:56 pm »
When I first encountered “ofay” I thought it was a mispring for “oafy” which in turn was a Wrong version of “oafish” :facepalm:
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

mattc

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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #6415 on: 30 January, 2022, 02:40:32 pm »
I was today years old ...

... when I finally looked up the history of this terrible phrase.

It MAKES NO SENSE!!!

Has never ridden RAAM
---------
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

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #6416 on: 30 January, 2022, 04:53:22 pm »
When I first encountered “ofay” I thought it was a mispring for “oafy” which in turn was a Wrong version of “oafish” :facepalm:

I thought it was Igpay Atinlay, but outside "eefay iefay ofay umfay" it doesn't mean anything.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

robgul

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  • cyclist, Cytech accredited mechanic & woodworker
    • Cycle:End-to-End
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #6417 on: 30 January, 2022, 07:24:58 pm »
When I first encountered “ofay” I thought it was a mispring for “oafy” which in turn was a Wrong version of “oafish” :facepalm:

I thought it was Igpay Atinlay, but outside "eefay iefay ofay umfay" it doesn't mean anything.

That wasn't  a fo par  was it?  ;D ;D ;D

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
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Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #6418 on: 07 February, 2022, 04:57:31 pm »
elite-sec.com, who specialise in security systems (!) are, according to one of their vans, “hiring for engineer's”.  I feel like e-mailing them to tell them they probably need a poof-reedre two.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #6419 on: 17 February, 2022, 08:37:37 am »
Paypal: "€€€ will charge to the card ending in <number>". No it bloody won't, you numbskulls: it will be charged.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Guy

  • Retired
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #6420 on: 17 February, 2022, 10:30:43 am »
Where do you start with this? From a local FB group


Quote
Hello, I just get my provision license, is there any driver couch may get some space still?

I do hope their English teacher isn't a member of this group.

"The Opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject"  Marcus Aurelius

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #6421 on: 17 February, 2022, 10:35:26 am »
Here's something better than a driver couch; a pedal sofa:
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #6422 on: 17 February, 2022, 06:54:58 pm »
Weather forecaster: "And the temperature tonight will be sixty eight degrees".


I thought: "wtf".


He actually said: "And the temperature tonight will be six-to-eight degrees.


It would have been easier to understand if he would have said: "And the temperature tonight
will be between six and eight degrees.


All BBC weather forecasters use the same parlance.

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #6423 on: 18 February, 2022, 12:52:53 pm »
NCE Headline
Quote
Engineers begin reassembly of 200-year-old bridge spanning England and Scotland

Spanning? Really? Spanning a river that forms the border between England and Scotland is more likely I feel. "Linking" would be a better choice.
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Grammar that makes you cringe
« Reply #6424 on: 18 February, 2022, 01:02:56 pm »
It's one of Boris's daydreams shifted in time.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.