My half-serious rant.

Discussion in 'The Lounge - Off Topic' started by ffreeloader, Feb 26, 2006.

  1. ffreeloader

    ffreeloader Terabyte Poster

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    I just have to say this as I think we people today just slaughter the King's English. There are so many words today that seem to be misspelled or misused it's just not funny.

    I am going to start a list of some of the most common ones I see. I will post the word along with the quote from Merriam-Webster's Online dictionary as to the meanings. If you all have a few words you see frequently misused add them to the list in subsequent posts.

    A person can ask for advice and you can advise them, but they do not ask for advise and you advice them. Advice is a noun. Advise is verb.

    A person living in the Western US can lose their horse or their horse might have gotten loose. Lose is a verb. Loose is an adjective that describes the condition of an object such as the horse.

    Yes, I'm anal about this stuff, but how a person presents themselves in their written communication says a lot about them. It says whether or not they take pride in everything they do. It says whether or not they paid attention in their classes at school. Whether or not a person can express themselves well or not in writing has a direct relationship to the number of interviews they will get when looking for a job. It also has a direct relationship as to how far a person will rise in an organization or even a career in IT as the higher a person has their goals set the greater the need to be able to communicate clearly in writing.
     
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  2. Jakamoko
    Honorary Member

    Jakamoko On the move again ...

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    Interseting idea, Freddy. I can go with this one. So my contribution for now is as follows:




    Source: dictionary.com
     
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  3. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    My contribution is

    and

    and if you need dictionary definitions for those there is no hope! :biggrin

    Harry.
     
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  4. Bluerinse
    Honorary Member

    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    Okay here is my contribution..

    Your

    Main Entry: your
    Pronunciation: y&r, 'yur, 'yOr, 'yor
    Function: adjective
    Etymology: Middle English, from Old English Eower; akin to Old English Eow you -- more at YOU
    1 : of or relating to you or yourself or yourselves especially as possessor or possessors <your bodies>, agent or agents <your contributions>, or object or objects of an action <your discharge>
    2 : of or relating to one or oneself <when you face the north, east is at your right>
    3 -- used with little or no meaning almost as an equivalent to the definite article the <a trait... that sets him apart from your average professor -- James Breckenridge>

    You're

    Main Entry: you're
    Pronunciation: y&r, 'yur, 'yOr, 'yor, "yü-&r
    : you are
     
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  5. supag33k

    supag33k Kilobyte Poster

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    The interesting thing with linguistics is that there is a drift in languages over several hundred years or longer.

    For example if a modern day english speaking person was deposited in the London of even four hundred years ago - then they would find the language to be markedly different, and would have trouble making themselves understood.

    If they where placed even further back to the time immediately after the Battle of Hastings in 1066 then the communications problem gets worse as the two languages would be an archaic Celtic/Roman patter or a precursor Normandic Dutch/French hybrid.

    Also going further back in time the standard form of spoken Greek is different to the form of Christ's time, and his native tongue of Aramaic is a almost vanished language, and of course different to the current hebrew language.

    Note that the root language of Latin has remained relatively stable over a long time, and the Arabic language appears to be reasoneably slow to change as well.

    In more current times, from a linguistic standpoint the variants of English based on inflections and word useage patterns are still acceptable forms of a particular language. The best example is how Americans speak - but also increasing applies to Australians as well.

    Well I have loquated extensively about an interesting and diverse topic or..
    {I have waffled with know how about something I dig...;)]
     
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  6. Arroryn

    Arroryn we're all dooooooomed Moderator

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    You should all read this book

    I find languages fascinating; it's the only reason I put myself through Latin and German at A Level. Their development over the years, and undeniable similarities worldwide, is amazing.

    English is a difficult language to master for foreigners and English people alike, because compared to other languages - our European neighbours of any ilk, for example - English is grammatically sloppy. And the amount of cultural changes it has been forced through over the centuries has given it a smattering of frustratingly similar words.

    too, two, to.
    through, though, thought.
    witch, which
    cough, slough, rough, though

    There are literally hundreds of little 'nuiances' to the language. Or nuisances, as my Latin teacher called them. This is all brought into a starkly evil light when you sit in a warm room on a Friday afternoon trying desperately to remember what the pluperfect subjunctive is.
     
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