Odd use of the word 'there'

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#1407885 16-Oct-2015 13:46

Pronunciation is one of the most commonly mispronounced English words.
It (frequently) happens in news/tv reportage - especially when presenting a case for English-speakers to tidy up their skills, particularly WRT NZ Maori place names etc.
"the correct pronounciation for Whakanui is"
They can take that argument and "eff" off.

Paul1977

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#1407891 16-Oct-2015 14:00

This one is far more excusable, but it annoys me when people use hyper and hypo incorrectly.

Paul1977

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#1407893 16-Oct-2015 14:04

robjg63: Cant say that I have ever heard of 'on accident' either - it sounds wrong though.

I recently had an argument with someone (and found I was wrong - sort of).

I said that 'lucked in' meant you were in luck (ie fortunate) and 'lucked out' meant you were out of luck (ie unfortunate).
Apparently in some parts of the world (possibly the UK according to urbandictionary.com) lucked in and lucked out both meant you were fortunate.
Dumbest thing ever!!!

Here is an apt description of "on accident" from Urban Dictionary":

On accident: The improper usage of the phrase "by accident". Started in the United States, but it has started to spread to other countries like a plague. A terrible, terrible, grammar plague.

Paul1977

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#1407896 16-Oct-2015 14:07

robjg63: I recently had an argument with someone (and found I was wrong - sort of).

I said that 'lucked in' meant you were in luck (ie fortunate) and 'lucked out' meant you were out of luck (ie unfortunate).
Apparently in some parts of the world (possibly the UK according to urbandictionary.com) lucked in and lucked out both meant you were fortunate.
Dumbest thing ever!!!

I've never heard anyone say "lucked in", but I was on the opposite side of the "lucked out" argument when my girlfriend was incorrectly using it to describe having bad luck.

I doesn't matter that I'm right.... I never seem to win those arguments.

Rikkitic

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#1407920 16-Oct-2015 15:25

MikeAqua: Abuse of the term technically seems to be a more recent thing.

Technically was normally used occasionally to introduce a potentially counter-intuitive technical distinction.

E.g "Technically, a slater is a more closely related to a shrimp than an insect"

Now it is used to attempt to lend weight to a non-technical (often subjective) argument.

What about like and literally ...

Like is supposed to be figurative/comparative but its use as literal.

Literally is used as figurative.

[when describing green grass] "The grass is like, green" No. The grass IS green. If the grass was aquamarine, like would be valid, but still clangy.

"I literally died" No, you didn't. You are still alive and clearly speaking figuratively. "I like, died" would be better, but still hideous.

Finally, someone on the Interweb who speaks English.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

andrew027

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#1407967 16-Oct-2015 16:20

Paul1977: This one is far more excusable, but it annoys me when people use hyper and hypo incorrectly.

Agree - especially as they have the exact opposite meaning. It could be fatal to be treated for hyperthermia if you're suffering from hypothermia.

One that really gets me is using a past participle instead of past tense. I work with a guy who's level of formal education is much higher than mine, and includes a degree in English, who will say thinks like "So what we done was ..." or "I drunk a couple of beers..." or "...then the boat sunk." I just want to slap him.

Bee

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#1407979 16-Oct-2015 16:37

Two more strange things to add to the conversation... both seem to be a cultural thing...

I once had a canadian friend who always said "a couple" when he definitely meant 3....

Also south Africans that say "just now" when they mean soon or later....

"I will be with you just now..." - they might turn up in an hour or two or more...

Doing your best is much more important than being the best.

Sharesies

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Jaxson

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#1407988 16-Oct-2015 17:17

Lol reminds me of geographically challenged people referring to "over there", whilst pointing in the direction they have in their minds, which often beers no resemblance to the direction it's actually in from their present location.

Examples are "outside the shop and turn left" to which you require more information to complete the task, such as "standing outside the shop, facing the road, turn left and head up..."

Not being gender specific here...

freitasm

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#1408005 16-Oct-2015 18:18

Geektastic:
wasabi2k: In fact just replace there with bro. Problem solved.

Not solved: made worse! Inappropriate over-familiarity is not a Good Thing.

I dislike when in a cafe or store and the person attending says "..., mate". Well I am at least double your age and certainly not your mate.

drunkmonk:
kiwitrc:
grant_k: IMO, the recent trend of starting every sentence with 'So' sounds just as retarded. It is totally superfluous as evidenced by the title of another thread posted this morning:

So, got my Nexus 6 today..

Do you really need to use "my" if you got it its probably yours :)

Therefore "Got Nexus 6 today" which leads to how important is when you got it..........

But I get phones all the time, and none of them are mine. So the my makes perfect sense.

In which case one could use "Got a Nexus 6 today" for anyone's phone, or "Got my Nexus 6 today" for that specific phone of yours.

jonathan18: So clearly you can't listen to our estemed PM speak then? He often finds it hard to start a sentence that's not prefaced with "look"; many other politicians are the same, sadly.

That's because the "Look,..." is condescending and implies that you are not seeing things from the advantageous point s/he is.

Sidestep

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#1408024 16-Oct-2015 18:47

fizzychicken

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#1408027 16-Oct-2015 19:09

someone I am work with is fond of dropping 'Im sorry but....' in just about everything.
You clearly aren't sorry, for anything, you actually disagree with something or just want to moan, grow a pair and just tell me your objection.

https://keybase.io/fizzychicken

riahon

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#1408051 16-Oct-2015 20:36

robjg63: Yes - there is a danger of becoming the old geezers that dont like change - still find these things annoying though.
I suppose language changes continuously and always has.

"Aks" instead of ask - morons!

"Would of" instead of "would have" - come on people!

I agree 100% but when I think why people say 'aks' it is actually a more natural movement to produce 'aks' rather than 'ask' as the sound is produced from the back of the mouth to the front for 'aks', but to say 'ask' requires the sound to be produced from the back, to the front and then to the middle of the mouth. We inherently do things efficiently so maybe in 50 years 'aks' will be the norm. Just a theory.

gzt

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#1408067 16-Oct-2015 21:25

Geektastic: I've notice a curious repurposing of the word 'there' recently as follows (some examples):

(on the phone) "What's your name there?" (note: my name here is the same as it is anywhere else...)

(on the phone) "Thanks for waiting there." (note: where else would I wait if I am talking to you on the phone?)

It seems entirely superfluous and a quite recent trend. Anyone else noticed and why is it suddenly happening?

Whoa there pilgrim! This has been around for a while.

oxnsox

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#1408077 16-Oct-2015 22:09

Geektastic: I've notice a curious repurposing of the word 'there' recently as follows (some examples):

(on the phone) "What's your name there?" (note: my name here is the same as it is anywhere else...)

(on the phone) "Thanks for waiting there." (note: where else would I wait if I am talking to you on the phone?)

It seems entirely superfluous and a quite recent trend. Anyone else noticed and why is it suddenly happening?

I'm unsure why you're asking us this.
Because none of us are there we're unable to respond on your behalf.

eracode

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#1408100 17-Oct-2015 04:31

There are a lot of language usages that irritate me.

Going to a counter in a shop and the opening greeting from the assistant is "You alright there?". Arghh - hate that! Always tempted to say "would I be waiting here if everything is alright?".

If you listen carefully a lot of people say "preformance" for the word performance. Another one John Key falls for.

Very common is something like "Put some glue on either end of the stick" - when talking about both ends - should be "put some glue on each end ..." or "put glue on both ends ..." otherwise they're saying the opposite of what is intended.

Grating use of the word 'amount' as in "A large amount of people ...". Surely it should be "number of people". Amount just sounds wrong in the context of people. Amount is for things or money. Maybe I'm wrong on this one but it irks me nonetheless.

I'm getting too old and grumpy, eh bro?

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

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