She learned from one of those other manuals. And I majored in English, was invited to enter the graduate English program, and took a post graduate course in copy editing. Your English teacher probably did none of those things.
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Question Of The Day, Wednesday, July 31, 2019
- Thread starter Mamanyt1953
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That's just American sloppiness. I've corrected those many times while editing. Another is "off-load." What's wrong with "unload"?Am I allowed to mention some confusing things about American English? I really don't get 'off of' (can anyone explain that?) and I've noticed a lot of people say 'I could care less' which is the opposite of the actual saying 'I couldn't care less'. Also, when I started here I couldn't work out why all these people shared rooms with their friends and their cats and heaven knows what else until I realised they were talking about what we call 'housemates'.
No, don't get me wrong, I'm not arguing with you. I'm just saying that this is what the school board has decided and she was told to do. She didn't agree with it, but if the school board says 'this is what you are teaching', then that's what the schools are teaching.
Why are shops either open or closed? Why not opened or closed? Or open or close?
Why do we sometimes say Life on Earth but not Life on The Earth? But we say Save The Earth?
Why do we sometimes say Life on Earth but not Life on The Earth? But we say Save The Earth?
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In addition to the all the oddball terminology, grammar and punctuation in different parts of the U.S. have various terms or slang they use, e.g. the East coast says soda while the Midwest says pop for a carbonated beverage such as Coke, Pepsi, etc. The East coast also says pocket book while the Midwest says purse and so on. Some of this terminology may have changed but I'm basing it on my experience with all my East coast friends. I'm sure the South or West have their own terms/phrases as well.
I was thinking about the same thing. I was leaving Publix a couple of weeks ago and didn't need the cart so I put it back at the front of the store. A young man carrying a baby in a carrier came in and I asked him if he needed the wagon. He thanked me and said no. I saw him take one. About 10 seconds later he came back over to me and said that he hadn't realized that I was talking about the buggy.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #27
Some of that actually has to do with the language of origin, where that rule does not apply. My former last name was "Lierman." I had a friend whose last name was "Leirman." They both originated in Germanic languages, so MY last name was pronounced "Leerman" and HER last name was pronounced "Lyerman." The pronunciation depends on which vowel comes first. In other languages, that rule, ALSO, does not apply, so "Keith" is "Keeth."
And "wicked" meant "sharp." So your knife was "wicked." Eventually, it also meant "smart." So I guess the Wicked Witch is really the Smart Witch. Unless they were talking about her nose...but that's stereotyping...
Yes, in the South, sodas and pop are "cokes." ALL of them. Conversations go like this.
Hostess: Would you like a coke?
Guest: Sure. What kind do you have?
Hostess: Sprite, Nehi orange, Dr. Pepper, Diet Coke
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #29
And, oddly enough, although all sodas are "cokes," Coke itself is almost always Co-Cola!
You are so right. I forgot about that - nobody in Illinois says Co-Cola.
It's supposed to be sarcastic, as in "like I could care less" but too many people use it non-sarcastically so they really should be saying "I couldn't care less".
We have Wiedemanns and Weidemanns. Some say Wy-de-mann and some say Wee-de-mann. And Neumier/Newmyer/Neumayer/etc. They all say New-my-er. I wonder if it was just different spellings that got entered at Ellis Island or something.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #32
You may well be right,
W
Willowy
. Ellis Island tended to just spell stuff the way it sounded to whomever heard it at the moment.
And come to think of it, SOMEONE in immigrations should be responsible for telling newcomers when their name just does not translate well in English. There are some very ordinary names from other countries that just don't mean the same thing here. MOST of those won't make it past TOS, but we've all seen them.
AND ANOTHER THING...whycome is "drought" pronounced "drawt?" And "draught" is pronounced "draft" when there isn't an "f" in there anywhere?
And come to think of it, SOMEONE in immigrations should be responsible for telling newcomers when their name just does not translate well in English. There are some very ordinary names from other countries that just don't mean the same thing here. MOST of those won't make it past TOS, but we've all seen them.
AND ANOTHER THING...whycome is "drought" pronounced "drawt?" And "draught" is pronounced "draft" when there isn't an "f" in there anywhere?
I pronounce drought as dr-ow-t, and draught as dr-awe-t.
On a related subject, there are at least three different ways to pronounce "caramel." I say "car-mull."
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #35
OK...let's do some "if/then" situations...
IF goose/geese, THEN moose/meese.
IF mouse/mice, THEN house/hice.
That just makes sense to me.
Or my dad, who said, "frog" "log" "hog" "fog" and "dawg." God help us.
IF goose/geese, THEN moose/meese.
IF mouse/mice, THEN house/hice.
That just makes sense to me.
Or my dad, who said, "frog" "log" "hog" "fog" and "dawg." God help us.
If a teacher taught, then a preacher praught. Or if a preacher preached, then a teacher teached.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #37
YES YES YES! THAT'S THE SPIRIT!
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #38
Or,
freeze/froze, why not squeeze/squoze?
freeze/froze, why not squeeze/squoze?
