Author Topic: Grammar that makes you cringe (Read 844521 times)

citoyen · « **Reply #4850 on:** 11 December, 2017, 10:09:45 am »

Slavishly following the 'no passive' rule is the kind of thing Will Self was talking about in his infamous 'cult of mediocrity' piece about George Orwell. The point being that stubbornly pedantic adherence to prescriptive grammar rules is not the route to fluent prose writing.

mattc · « **Reply #4851 on:** 21 December, 2017, 02:47:33 pm »

A couple of 'orrible site emails this week:

"These will appear via a number of mediums including site broadcasts, "

oh will they??

"Please cascade this to your staff."

<no comment>

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #4852 on:** 21 December, 2017, 07:29:47 pm »

They have the late Doris Stokes on standby?

professor palindrome · « **Reply #4853 on:** 25 December, 2017, 11:36:21 am »

Auntie Beeb (who should know better) mis-managed tragic news from Lebanon last week by alleging that the poor woman "had been found strangled by a motorway". (Hazard warning. Beware of Malevolent Spaghetti Junction ?)

Moleman76 · « **Reply #4854 on:** 26 December, 2017, 08:09:15 am »

Quote from: mattc on 21 December, 2017, 02:47:33 pm

"These will appear via a number of mediums including site broadcasts, "

sending out a band of supernatural prognosticators?

T42 · « **Reply #4855 on:** 27 December, 2017, 09:44:04 am »

Interesting subtitles last night: joder (Spanish for fuck) translated as Jesus.

hellymedic · « **Reply #4856 on:** 27 December, 2017, 03:19:40 pm »

Quote from: T42 on 27 December, 2017, 09:44:04 am

Interesting subtitles last night: joder (Spanish for fuck) translated as Jesus.

Translation loses much.

My 'My Heritage' feed had various entries as different because the algorithms couldn't see Köln/North Rhine Westphalia as being the same, Like wise Frankfurt/Frankfurt am Main when translated or transliterated from Hebrew

pcolbeck · « **Reply #4857 on:** 29 December, 2017, 11:22:26 am »

"On Christmas" as opposed to "at Christmas", seems to be leftpondian mainly but it grates.

citoyen · « **Reply #4858 on:** 29 December, 2017, 12:36:24 pm »

Quote from: pcolbeck on 29 December, 2017, 11:22:26 am

"On Christmas" as opposed to "at Christmas", seems to be leftpondian mainly but it grates.

"On Christmas [Day]" makes sense though.

T42 · « **Reply #4859 on:** 29 December, 2017, 02:57:12 pm »

Quote from: hellymedic on 27 December, 2017, 03:19:40 pm

Quote from: T42 on 27 December, 2017, 09:44:04 am
Interesting subtitles last night: joder (Spanish for fuck) translated as Jesus.

Translation loses much.

Joder/Jesus isn't so much a translation error as a strange appreciation of the gravity of swear-words across cultures. Ofcom rates fuck among the strongest, so if the translators looked at their rating then they might think Jesus a pretty strong word for their target audience, but I doubt it. As far as I can see, both fuck and joder seem to be mild throwaways these days, so why they would bother not using the direct translation is puzzling. Maybe it's OK to say it but not to write it.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #4860 on:** 26 January, 2018, 10:34:53 am »

I've been reading an account written by a British woman who travelled up the Yangtse* in 1898. She frequently complains of Chinese "grooviness" by which she means rigidity of thought and habit. The idea is obviously being stuck in a groove, but it's amusing to think how the word had changed in meaning six or seven decades later.

*Not a euphemism.

T42 · « **Reply #4861 on:** 26 January, 2018, 10:53:53 am »

Funny, that. I think of our "Recent Unread Topics" as The Rut.

Moleman76 · « **Reply #4862 on:** 29 January, 2018, 02:41:09 am »

because the following comes from the Facebook "Analytical Grammar" group, I'm putting it here instead of among the Truly Terrible Jokes:

"I swallowed a dictionary. It gave me thesaurus throat I've ever had".

Guy · « **Reply #4863 on:** 29 January, 2018, 10:31:12 am »

From an email this morning about work being done on site

Quote

...will commence to start...

Violent Stabby DETH is too good for some people

Bledlow · « **Reply #4864 on:** 29 January, 2018, 08:43:33 pm »

Commence to begin starting?

(takes cover . . . )

Tim Hall · « **Reply #4865 on:** 29 January, 2018, 10:23:50 pm »

Quote from: Bledlow on 29 January, 2018, 08:43:33 pm

Commence to begin starting?

(takes cover . . . )

going forward

T42 · « **Reply #4866 on:** 30 January, 2018, 09:02:52 am »

Made myself cringe by writing "aversion for" or "aversion of" on YACF the other day, and now I can't find it to correct it. I was brain-dead after a late night out, yer honour.

jsabine · « **Reply #4867 on:** 30 January, 2018, 09:44:09 am »

Quote from: T42 on 30 January, 2018, 09:02:52 am

Made myself cringe by writing "aversion for" or "aversion of" on YACF the other day, and now I can't find it to correct it. I was brain-dead after a late night out, yer honour.

You've managed to quote ian writing "aversion of to," but that was some weeks ago.

Quote from: T42 on 02 January, 2018, 01:31:04 pm

Quote from: ian on 02 January, 2018, 10:25:12 am
They cook steaks for 25 to 30 minutes, minimum, and believe olive oil is 'for your ears.' They both have such an aversion of to garlic that frankly even a vampire would find extreme. Except in HP sauce.

My maternal grandmother was a lady's maid, so my mother inherited very clear ideas of what was "correct" and what wasn't. She would never have allowed a bottle of HP on the table, frowned at L&P and referred to the EPNS cutlery as "the silver". She was a dab hand at turning steak into kevlar before kevlar was invented. My dad once put her into terminal miff by asking for the last.

Google site search was my friend. I'm not a stalker, just a smart-arse.

Redlight · « **Reply #4868 on:** 30 January, 2018, 10:08:55 am »

Battle your way past some IVR systems and you will be told that an operator will be "with you momentarily". That's not a lot of use - I would like him or her there for the whole conversation.

orienteer · « **Reply #4869 on:** 30 January, 2018, 10:17:48 am »

USAnian. Even more worrying when the pilot says they'll be taking off momentarily.

ian · « **Reply #4870 on:** 30 January, 2018, 11:10:22 am »

Quote from: jsabine on 30 January, 2018, 09:44:09 am

You've managed to quote ian writing "aversion of to," but that was some weeks ago.

I'm just glad to see I'm having an influence. I don't actually write individual words, I simply create a paragraph of linguistic probability.

Ham · « **Reply #4871 on:** 30 January, 2018, 11:47:15 am »

Quote from: Tim Hall on 29 January, 2018, 10:23:50 pm

Quote from: Bledlow on 29 January, 2018, 08:43:33 pm
Commence to begin starting?

(takes cover . . . )

going forward

Guess the link before clicking

Torslanda · « **Reply #4872 on:** 01 February, 2018, 09:17:26 am »

I pray to $Deity that I should never again have to hear someone use the term 'literally' when it literally is not, like literally, like relevant. In Estuary . . .

Sorry if we've like, literally done this before. Literally . . .

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #4873 on:** 01 February, 2018, 09:34:15 am »

Saw a thing on Farcebok the other day about some bar in New York that literally bars punters who use the word. They contend that it is literally the most over- and inappropriately-used word in the English language.

They are, however, this: wrong. Because "awesome".

Nuncio · « **Reply #4874 on:** 01 February, 2018, 11:50:29 am »

I've a feeling we're past peak awesome, but that's maybe because I no longer work with the same set of awesome dudes that I worked with 5 years ago. I was sorrunded by it then and started, for my private amusement, to record each instance I heard. I decided to stop after this exchange:

- It's my nan's birthday next week
- Awesome!