|
Source: (consider it)
|
Thread: Heaven: Poking fun at the (linguistically) handicapped
|
Leetle Masha
Cantankerous Anchoress
# 8209
|
Posted
Sarky inquired,
quote:
Is this [Philadelphia] where "egg" consists of three syllables? Or is that further See-yow-erth.
It would be further Seehowerth, in Charleston, South Carolina, where you can have aigs and beckon fuh brakefuss. And shet the d'oh on yo' way oat.
--------------------
eleison me, tin amartolin: have mercy on me, the sinner
Posts: 6351 | From: Hesychia, in Hyperdulia | Registered: Aug 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leetle Masha
Cantankerous Anchoress
# 8209
|
Posted
Oops, I did it again! Truly unintentional...very, very tired and suffering from a severe squint, I attributed a remark of Sioni Sais to Sarkycow! Very sorry!
No more posting after 1 a.m.
![[Ultra confused]](graemlins/confused2.gif)
--------------------
eleison me, tin amartolin: have mercy on me, the sinner
Posts: 6351 | From: Hesychia, in Hyperdulia | Registered: Aug 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Red Star Bethlehem
Shipmate
# 8897
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by chukovsky:
quote:
Originally posted by PhilA:
I do this to my students; nasty, aren't I?
Do your students tell you that it should be "am I not"?
Or do they say "I are" in your part of the world?
Red Star, the nice nasty pedant ![[Two face]](graemlins/scot_twoface.gif)
Posts: 179 | Registered: Dec 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Red Star Bethlehem
Shipmate
# 8897
|
Posted
Can one poke fun at oneself here?
When I was young and innocent and an overseas student in the UK, I was invited to a professor's house for dinner. Professors don't do this in Germany and so I was suitably excited.
Towards the end of the meal his wife asked if I wanted more.
But I was very ...., eh, ehm, er ... I struggled and did not know the word for German "satt" (full). So, ever quickwitted, I decided to use a very fitting idiom which I had only first heard the day before and replied: "No thank you, I am fed up."
Well, they say the use of idioms is good style in English, right?
And you'll admit that 'full' is a somewhat clumsy and graphic word to describe you've had enough food, whereas my usage of 'fed up' at least had logic going for it.
I am glad to say that despite this wee mishap they invited me again.
Posts: 179 | Registered: Dec 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Gill H
Shipmate
# 68
|
Posted
And if I went to Germany and said 'Ich bin voll' in the same situation, it would mean 'I'm pregnant' wouldn't it?
(I also know not to say 'Ich bin heiss' when the weather is warm!)
I hope Hugal won't mind me mentioning his slip-up in the reading on Sunday. It was sprung on him at the last minute, which is some excuse.
"... and those whom He called, He also presidented" (rather than 'predestined').
I consoled him by saying that the Bible says we are kings and priests, so presumably we can be presidents too.
--------------------
*sigh* We can’t all be Alan Cresswell.
- Lyda Rose
Posts: 9313 | From: London | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
dogwatch
Shipmate
# 5226
|
Posted
Red Star's German-induced howler reminded me of the phrase from the famous Gerard Hoffnung (musician and humorist in the 1950s, he of the builder and the barrel of bricks monologue fame) hotel guide for tourists:
"You will be well fed up and pleasantly drunk in our restaurant."
There is something about German which leads to quaint errors in English. My German exchange partner in my school days creased us up on the first night he stayed with us. As we were about to retire, he asked: "At what time will you excite me in the morning?
I just hope my efforts to speak German over the years have brought equal merriment. I can remember a bunch of German christians having a snigger when, speaking of a recent church-crawl around their town, I attempted to say, "I tried the catholic church!" I suspect the word I chose ("probieren") suggested I had been attempting to ingest small portions of RC adherents, to see what they tasted like.
Hundewache
--------------------
"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."
Posts: 83 | From: Wrecked at Ezion Geber | Registered: Nov 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Linguo
Ship's grammar robot
# 7220
|
Posted
I was once walking down a road in a small German town with a friend when she announced loudly "Ich bin sehr, sehr heiss!" ![[Hot and Hormonal]](icon_redface.gif)
[ETA: what she meant was 'I'm very very hot'; what she said was 'I'm very very horny']
[ 14. January 2005, 13:20: Message edited by: Linguo ]
Posts: 997 | From: around and about the place | Registered: May 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Matt Black
Shipmate
# 2210
|
Posted
I remember whilst doing missionary work with OM about 100 years ago when I actually still looked like my avatar, one of the Norwegian members of our OM team read from Romans, instead of "God has revealed Himself", "God has relieved Himself".
Not as bad as my French howler: whilst in Paris, I got the gender of its river confused when asking directions to it, which meant I asked a Parisienne passer-by where her knockers were. Or so I was informed by my French companion...
Matt
--------------------
"Protestant and Reformed, according to the Tradition of the ancient Catholic Church" - + John Cosin (1594-1672)
Posts: 14304 | From: Hampshire, UK | Registered: Jan 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Newman's Own
Shipmate
# 420
|
Posted
Here is another selection from the "it worries me that I know what he meant" category.
For this to make sense, I'll mention that my friend John (who proves that even those who went to Oxford can be linguistically handicapped) is the younger of two sons, who were born one year apart. His mother had been thought sterile, and was married for ten years before her first son arrived.
John often said, "They didn't think my mother could have children - and, after she had Ray, they were sure."
--------------------
Cheers,
Elizabeth
“History as Revelation is seldom very revealing, and histories of holiness are full of holes.” - Dermot Quinn
Posts: 6740 | From: Library or pub | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
|
Posted
There was a professor at Yale who had come from Austria about twenty-five years before; he never deigned to master the English language.
There was a student who had immigrated to America with his parents when he was a baby. The professor meant to ask whether his parents had come to America before his birth. In fact he asked, "Have you already been born in America?", which is a literal translation of, "Sind Sie schon in Amerika gerboren?"
Moo
[Edited because I can.]
[ 16. January 2005, 00:17: Message edited by: KenWritez ]
--------------------
Kerygmania host
---------------------
See you later, alligator.
Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Pendragon
Ship's swordbearer
# 8759
|
Posted
And anyone who meets me can expect my name pronunciation to be erratic-I tend to do things the way they seem, not the way they are, until I've been corrected
--------------------
Not a particuarly GLE
Everything will be OK in the end; if it's not OK it's not the end.
(seen on a fridgemagnet)
Posts: 392 | From: Coventry | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
|
Posted
I tried to say "You're welcome" in Vietnamese, but used the wrong voice pitch. It came out "I don't have lice."
They were very glad to hear that.
--------------------
Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
mousethief
Ship's Thieving Rodent
# 953
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Red Star Bethlehem:
quote:
Originally posted by chukovsky:
quote:
Originally posted by PhilA:
I do this to my students; nasty, aren't I?
Do your students tell you that it should be "am I not"?
Or do they say "I are" in your part of the world?
"Aren't I" is acceptable in this context, at least in the USA. Your pedantry is ill-placed.
--------------------
This is the last sig I'll ever write for you...
Posts: 63536 | From: Washington | Registered: Jul 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leetle Masha
Cantankerous Anchoress
# 8209
|
Posted
Mousethief says:
quote:
"Aren't I" is acceptable in this context, at least in the USA.
Absolutely, and more than acceptable. In the third grade of elementary school in the Philadelphia suburbs [many, many years ago], a teacher told me that "Am I not?" was incorrect and that I must say "Aren't I".... my parents told me otherwise, but since they were from another area where people's English was ridiculed in this region, my teacher told me not to speak the way my parents did. That teacher enforced other very special rules of pronunciation and grammar such as the identical pronunciation of "Our", "Are", and "Hour", and the pronunciation of "creek" as "crick", along with her insistence that one did not go "to town"; one went "uptown", but "down cellar" and not "down into the basement". Only years later did I discover that one could also go "downtown". I was further instructed to say "either" and "neither" as a German would, or rather as an elegant society lady in Philadelphia would. I practiced for hours on end, saying "EYE-ther" and "NYE-ther". One day, my mother found me hiding under a card-table covered by a long tablecloth, practicing the word "Dog", which was pronounced, according to my teacher "DOO-wug". Mama had taught me to say "Dahg." "Dahg" was wrong, according to my teacher--there were, effectively, two syllables in the word.
It takes all kinds to make an education....
The result was that I grew up with a different accent and dialect from the one in which I learned to speak. But I still ask, "Am I not?"
Nowadays, little effort is made in elementary schools to change children's dialects. I still wonder about the real reason behind my teacher's tactics.
--------------------
eleison me, tin amartolin: have mercy on me, the sinner
Posts: 6351 | From: Hesychia, in Hyperdulia | Registered: Aug 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Newman's Own
Shipmate
# 420
|
Posted
Lord have mercy, the damage that some teachers can do! (And I have been one, have I not?) I still think that 'aren't I' is dreadfully wrong, but it is unfortunate that your teacher corrected you for using the proper form.
I have a similar memory, though it happened to my cousin rather than myself. Bob was about 10 at the time, and his class was studying the Old Testament era. His teacher insisted that "Nebachadnezzer" was pronounced "Duke-a-the-nazzar."
--------------------
Cheers,
Elizabeth
“History as Revelation is seldom very revealing, and histories of holiness are full of holes.” - Dermot Quinn
Posts: 6740 | From: Library or pub | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
dj_ordinaire
Host
# 4643
|
Posted
Don't forget the apocryphal Merican academic who was invited to a symposium in Loughborough, and announced himself delighted to be able to visit Lowbrow University...
--------------------
Flinging wide the gates...
Posts: 10335 | From: Hanging in the balance of the reality of man | Registered: Jun 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leetle Masha
Cantankerous Anchoress
# 8209
|
Posted
Dear Newman's Own,
Yes, besides the new and as I later learned, idiolect rather than dialect my teacher taught me, I also finished the third grade with a large chip on my shoulder which took years to get rid of. The chip on my shoulder was a lot worse than the "mouth full of mush" the teacher condemned and then cleared up in her own inimitable fashion. Nowadays, you'll neverrr hearrrr me drrrop a final r.
Elsewhere I posted, months ago, about my mother's suffering of ridicule of her accent, and how she was much comforted by a local, but native Scot, Presbyterian pastor who told her, "Och, I willnae allow onyane tae mak' fun o' the way ye talk...." A very small kind deed that evangelized both my parents into the Presbyterian Church, when they hadn't been Presbyterians to start with.... But people said to her, "We gawooutta teachya t' toowuk reeeeyeght, loike we dew hyeeerrr in Philly, cuz yew toowuk sayewwe fwunneeey".
But Duke-a-the-Nezzar takes the cake! Do you suppose that teacher was mixed up between the KJV spelling of Nebuchadnezzar and the Vulgate "Nabuchodonosor"? No, that can't be, because then he would have been The Duke of the Noser.
Long live the English Language!
Posts: 6351 | From: Hesychia, in Hyperdulia | Registered: Aug 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Red Star Bethlehem
Shipmate
# 8897
|
Posted
Oh. My temperamental computer prevented me from posting for a while and now this thread has died. Anyway, I'll get rid of my home-prepared collection of replies and then let it rest in peace.
quote:
Originally posted by Jajehu:
An attempted consultation with the nice young man on duty quickly escalated into "pronounced" warfare, thus:
Me: I'm looking for a nice claret(KLAH -rett)."
Him: Oh, right this way. Here's where we stock the claret (klah-RAY)."
And so on. Neither of us gave an inch, but got increasingly insistent as we went on. By the end of the transaction we were pronouncing daggers at each other.
I thought Claret is a French word and the young man was right?!
quote:
Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
If I read or hear one more person using "specie" as the singular of "species", or "phenomena" or "bacteria" as singulars, I shall probably blow a vessel.
I always find the English usage of ‘visa’ as a singular hard to get used to. Somehow it feels as though the singular ought to be ‘visum’ (as indeed in other languages it is).
I have been officially told on my job to speak of ‘Forums’, not ‘Fora’ (we have them as official networks). It sounds pedantic I was told. But if one knows Latin well, it feels just like being forced to say "And he goed and bringed me some biscuits."
quote:
Originally posted by Newman's Own:
I don't know if this still is popular, but, in the days when I worked for the Roman Catholics, it was common to see reports such as "bishops and superiors to dialogue." Or to hear 'we dialogued.'
At least it is good Greek and soon will be good English. Dia-logein means ‘to converse', 'to speak' in Greek. What however is logical nonsense is ‘trialogue’ – found in some European languages now.
quote:
Do your students tell you that it should be "am I not"?
Or do they say "I are" in your part of the world?
quote:
"Aren't I" is acceptable in this context, at least in the USA. Your pedantry is ill-placed.
Admit my ignorance. However, "pedantry ill-placed" ?! I thought this thread of all threads was the pedants' candy-shop?
quote:
Originally posted by Gill H:
And if I went to Germany and said 'Ich bin voll' in the same situation, it would mean 'I'm pregnant' wouldn't it?
It would mean you're blazing blind drunk.
That reminds me, I need to go. It's off to the Burns Supper.
Ullapool is a long drive.
… fou and unco happy …
Cheeerioo!
[Code]
[ 28. January 2005, 09:55: Message edited by: KenWritez ]
Posts: 179 | Registered: Dec 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
chukovsky
Ship's toddler
# 116
|
Posted
It's in French that "je suis pleine" means "I am pregnant".
In Spanish, "estoy embarrasada" means the same thing. Beginning male Spanish speakers - and, indeed, some speakers who learnt Spanish at home but haven't had any formal education in the language - amuse everyone by saying "estoy embarrasado".
--------------------
This space left intentionally blank. Do not write on both sides of the paper at once.
Posts: 6842 | From: somewhere else | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Newman's Own
Shipmate
# 420
|
Posted
I have no idea from where, but, somehow, my mother picked up and developed the exagerrated accent which used to be characteristic of telephone operators (which she was not.) Consequently, those who heard her e-nun-ci-ATE her English did not realise that she often did not, shall we say, catch nuance. I well remember when some friends, who were organising a pool for some sporting event, and asked her if she'd wanted to join, thought she was being hilarious in responding that she did not swim.
Oddly enough, when my dad told a group that he 'might almost buy a car,' they not only understood him but did not bat an eye.
On another note, I have known people, particularly those who preach or lecture, whose occasional problem is not that they cannot express themselves (which they do all too well), but that the lose their train of thought. The presentation is exceedingly well planned, but they forget one element, with puzzling results.
Here is an example. A priest I know, who had been very impressed by one of James Allison's books, was going to include a reference to one of its concepts in a sermon. In brief, it had to do with how Christianity replaced the old, pagan religion of sacrifice and scapegoats. Unfortunately, he forgot to include the Allison reference (which he'd thought of so often that he did not realise the omission), and told a puzzled congregation that 'the reason we are here is to get away from religion.'
--------------------
Cheers,
Elizabeth
“History as Revelation is seldom very revealing, and histories of holiness are full of holes.” - Dermot Quinn
Posts: 6740 | From: Library or pub | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Amorya
Ship's tame galoot
# 2652
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Red Star Bethlehem:
I have been officially told on my job to speak of ‘Forums’, not ‘Fora’ (we have them as official networks). It sounds pedantic I was told. But if one knows Latin well, it feels just like being forced to say "And he goed and bringed me some biscuits."
Oddly, I will always say (or type) 'fora' when referring to them... but when naming files on the server, I will always use 'forums' if a plural is required. I'm not entirely sure why... maybe it's because people might have to type it and I'm not confident in the ability of others to form latin plurals?
Amorya
Posts: 2383 | From: Coventry | Registered: Apr 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Wet Kipper
Circus Runaway
# 1654
|
Posted
continuing on the "foreign language mistakes", I wnet to restaurant with some friends in Germany, and we took turns in asking for things
I asked for a blackboard (Tafel)for 6 people instead of a table (Tisch)
Another person asked for a Rabbit (Kaninchen)of water, instead of a jug (Kaennchen)
Finally when we were done, a third person asked for the recipe (Rezept) instead of a receipt.....
--------------------
- insert randomly chosen, potentially Deep and Meaningful™ song lyrics here -
Posts: 9841 | From: further up the Hill | Registered: Nov 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Red Star Bethlehem:
I thought Claret is a French word and the young man was right?!
No, its an English word.
It may have been based on a French word once upon a time, but it means something different, it is spelled differently, and we say it differently.
Hotel, hostel and hospital are all based on a French word. And they mean something rather different to us than to the French. And leaving the "h" off the front is extreme ignorant pretension.
--------------------
Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
chukovsky
Ship's toddler
# 116
|
Posted
Also, in the UK, French words such as ballet and merlot tend to be emphasised on the first syllable, while in the US it's the second syllable. This, I assume, is just the emphasis-obsessed English speakers' attempt to cope with French words which should have equal emphasis on both syllables. UK speakers use English emphasis (first syllable), partly because it is more prominent in UK English anyway, and US speakers use "foreign" emphasis (second syllable).
--------------------
This space left intentionally blank. Do not write on both sides of the paper at once.
Posts: 6842 | From: somewhere else | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Horseman Bree
Shipmate
# 5290
|
Posted
There is a (presumably true) story of the the then Mayor of Montreal, Camilien Houde speaking at the end of a dinner to welcome King George VI and his Queen Elizabeth. In the course of the Mayor's speech, this self-consciously Quebc Francophone said" I wish to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your presence here in my town. My wife wants to thank you from her bottom as well."
--------------------
It's Not That Simple
Posts: 5372 | From: more herring choker than bluenose | Registered: Dec 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Campbellite
Ut unum sint
# 1202
|
Posted
Perhaps it is a down side of a classical education (pace Die Hard) but I am amused by those who are stumped by Latin plurals.
I drive a Ford Focus. If I make reference to two of them, they should be Foci, no?
And as far as English words are concerned, if the past tense of teach is taught, then the past tense of preach should be praught.
--------------------
I upped mine. Up yours.
Suffering for Jesus since 1966.
WTFWED?
Posts: 12001 | From: between keyboard and chair | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
mrs whibley
Shipmate
# 4798
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Campbellite:
I drive a Ford Focus. If I make reference to two of them, they should be Foci, no?
Yes, of course! When they had just come out I was being driven to a meeting by my then boss when he said to me, deadpan: "I'm not sure what I think of these Foci." It took me a couple of minutes...
We used to spend a lot of time in Latin lessons making sentences with Volvo and Mercedes in them which made sense - but that probably belongs in the Circus.
Mrs Whibley
--------------------
I long for a faith that is gloriously treacherous - Mike Yaconelli
Posts: 942 | From: North Lincolnshire | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Phaedra
Apprentice
# 8385
|
Posted
According to linguist guy Steven Pinker (The Language Instinct, Words and Rules) it's actually right to make the plural regular when the meaning of a word is extended in certain ways... Tom and Mary Foreman aren't the Foremen, they're the Foremans; the Toronto hockey team is the Maple Leafs, not the Maple Leaves; and even when you're being pedantic, I suspect that more than one Ford Focus would be Focuses, not Foci.
And if there can be legitimate disagreement over whether computer pointing devices are mice or mouses, I'm sure the same is true of forums. The meaning's just distant enough from the original that the irregular plural doesn't necessarily copy over.
Posts: 27 | From: North Carolina | Registered: Aug 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Egeria
Shipmate
# 4517
|
Posted
I don't believe anyone has yet mentioned the proud or indignant writers of letters-to-the-editor who proclaim: "I am an alumni..."
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
Really? You were cloned? Or perhaps you are a conjoined twin?
No--just no way to explain that one away...
--------------------
"Sound bodies lined / with a sound mind / do here pursue with might / grace, honor, praise, delight."--Rabelais
Posts: 314 | From: Berkeley, CA | Registered: May 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Yrmenlaf
Shipmate
# 8392
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ken:
Hotel, hostel and hospital are all based on a French word. ......And leaving the "h" off the front is extreme ignorant pretension.
Now I always thought that the correct English was "an 'otel" or "an 'ospital" (rather than "a hotel" or "a hospital").
Those of us who are English and of a certain age will remember a newsreader called Moira Stewart who was delightfully precise in her diction of these words.
I pronounce the "H"
Y.
--------------------
Please do not think me foolish because I am flippant. And I will not think you wise if you are grave.
Posts: 107 | From: Durham, England | Registered: Aug 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Custard
Shipmate
# 5402
|
Posted
All this talk of pronunciation reminds me of this poem, which you've probably seen before anyway...
--------------------
blog
Adam's likeness, Lord, efface;
Stamp thine image in its place.
Posts: 4523 | From: Snot's Place | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Anselm
Shipmate
# 4499
|
Posted
Paul White (aka the Jungle Doctor) was a missionary in Africa. When he first arrived there he was very keen to start teaching and asked a lot of advice from the local christian native who was his guide.
For his first talk he was encouraged to tell a story - people love to hear stories. He spent hours working on a retelling of the parable of the lost sheep, and the good shepherd who leaves his 99 to search out the lost.
To a gathered crowd, his guide looking on, he passionately retold the story, trying to read the faces of the people. Did they like it? They seemed to be smiling as they left. He asked for feed back from his guide, how did he go?
Very good sir, just one small suggestion. Next time you give the talk you may like to use [the african word for "sheep"] instead of [the african word for "snail"].
Once there was a man who owned 100 snails, and one day one of the snails wandered away...
--------------------
carpe diem domini
...seize the day to play dominoes?
Posts: 2544 | From: The Scriptorium | Registered: May 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Red Star Bethlehem
Shipmate
# 8897
|
Posted
Anselm's story reminds me. Well into the 20th century German missionaries in one part of Namibia were notorious for baptising "in the name of God the Father, the Son and the Holy bull". Somehow the word for 'ghost' was almost unpronouncable for a European tongue and they all ended up getting just the one important sound wrong.
I have this from one who did it himself.
Posts: 179 | Registered: Dec 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
shareman
Shipmate
# 2871
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Yrmenlaf:
quote:
Originally posted by ken:
Hotel, hostel and hospital are all based on a French word. ......And leaving the "h" off the front is extreme ignorant pretension.
Now I always thought that the correct English was "an 'otel" or "an 'ospital" (rather than "a hotel" or "a hospital").
Those of us who are English and of a certain age will remember a newsreader called Moira Stewart who was delightfully precise in her diction of these words.
I pronounce the "H"
Y.
Has it been mentioned that this is why we
Anglicans in Old Time were exhorted to confess our sins with "an humble, lowly, penitent and obedient heart"?
--------------------
Israel also came into Egypt, and Jacob was a stranger in the land of Ham.
Posts: 516 | From: on a rock AND a hard place | Registered: May 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Yrmenlaf:
Now I always thought that the correct English was "an 'otel" or "an 'ospital" (rather than "a hotel" or "a hospital").
That's a mixture of hypercorrection (as in "Police Hofficer") and a hangover from an older habit of always eliding initial h-vowel to a preceding vowel in an unstressed syllable, in words of English origin as well, which continued in print till the early 20th century but had probably dropped out of most people's speech by the early or mid 19th.
[ 31. January 2005, 16:37: Message edited by: ken ]
--------------------
Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
|
Posted
I seem to recall someone being baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Stomach....
--------------------
Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Nikon User
Glittering Images
# 5940
|
Posted
"Expresso" always grates a bit.
In Berlin recently with my 12 year old son. Waiter comes to take our order, and spots us as less than fluent in German, so, turning to my son, says "And the young man, what will she have?"
I also confused a policeman in Switzerland by announcing [in German] that I was a police station.
--------------------
"There is plenty of work for love to do"
Posts: 246 | From: Cumbria, UK | Registered: May 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Gill H
Shipmate
# 68
|
Posted
Our church used to have a couple called Mr & Mrs Foot, who we often referred to jokingly as 'The Feet'. Apparently when their first child was born, friends called them 'the Yard' (3 Feet).
--------------------
*sigh* We can’t all be Alan Cresswell.
- Lyda Rose
Posts: 9313 | From: London | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Linguo
Ship's grammar robot
# 7220
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Nikon User:
"Expresso" always grates a bit.
Yes, it does.
I was in the supermarket just before Christmas, waiting at the cheese counter, and a very posh-looking lady in front of me asked if they had any of that "Em-MENT-al" cheese. At which the girl behind the counter turned and asked her colleague "Karen, do we have any EMMental?" correctly and very loudly.
A friend who's a waitress also gets irked by ladies-who-lunch types asking for "see-a-batta" bread.
Posts: 997 | From: around and about the place | Registered: May 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
|
Posted
I'm fighting a lone rear-guard action against the adoption of Panini as a singular noun into English.
As in "Any panini and crisps £3" - I'm inclined to ask how many panini I get for my money ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
Inexplicably, it's always 1.
--------------------
Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Caz...
Shipmate
# 3026
|
Posted
What's the singular then? Panin?
--------------------
"What have you been reading? The Gospel according to St. Bastard?" - Eddie Izzard
Posts: 1888 | From: here to there | Registered: Jul 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
dogwatch
Shipmate
# 5226
|
Posted
Panino?
Or maybe that's a minor character in "The Magic Flute".
--------------------
"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."
Posts: 83 | From: Wrecked at Ezion Geber | Registered: Nov 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
|
Posted
Like virtually every other Italian plural in -i, the singular ends in -o.
--------------------
Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Mathmo
Shipmate
# 5837
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Yrmenlaf:
Those of us who are English and of a certain age will remember a newsreader called Moira Stewart who was delightfully precise in her diction of these words.
She hasn't gone away - she reads the news during BBC Breakfast every so often...
--------------------
I'm the fool I never, fool I never thought I was.
Posts: 233 | From: my own little world | Registered: Apr 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Linguo
Ship's grammar robot
# 7220
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
I'm fighting a lone rear-guard action against the adoption of Panini as a singular noun into English.
One of the coffee shops near work sells
PANINI'S [sic]
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
Posts: 997 | From: around and about the place | Registered: May 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
I'm fighting a lone rear-guard action against the adoption of Panini as a singular noun into English.
Yup, well, I think you just lost. The practice is now so widespread you haven't a cat in hell's chance of reversing it now.
Incidentally are you consistent in your policy? Do you also pay for pizze when you eat out, and finish off your meal with a couple of cappuchini? Do you ever accidentally drop a spaghetto on the carpet? Inquiring minds would like to know.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Pendragon
Ship's swordbearer
# 8759
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
Like virtually every other Italian plural in -i, the singular ends in -o.
This is the language which my Italian teacher describes as having "an exception to every rule, an an exception to the exception"
I did the imperfect yesterday-there are two irregular endings which revert (confusingly) to an old form in the imperfect: -urre and -orre.
(I was also asked yesterday if I would like to take the class next time, ![[Smile]](smile.gif) as I was the only one to virtually finish the translation (by virtue of doing two things at once, to which my reply was "I got a lot of translation practise at A Level"-I did Latin and French.))
[edited because I forgot to count the brackets! ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif) ]
[ 01. February 2005, 19:38: Message edited by: Pendragon ]
--------------------
Not a particuarly GLE
Everything will be OK in the end; if it's not OK it's not the end.
(seen on a fridgemagnet)
Posts: 392 | From: Coventry | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
quote:
Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
I'm fighting a lone rear-guard action against the adoption of Panini as a singular noun into English.
Yup, well, I think you just lost. The practice is now so widespread you haven't a cat in hell's chance of reversing it now.
Incidentally are you consistent in your policy? Do you also pay for pizze when you eat out, and finish off your meal with a couple of cappuchini? Do you ever accidentally drop a spaghetto on the carpet? Inquiring minds would like to know.
No, I consider anglicised plurals, such as Pizzas, perfectly acceptable. What would not be acceptable would be to refer to a single Pizza as a Pizze.
Similarly cappuchinos.
It's the using a plural as a singular, or vice versa that is unacceptable.
Yes, I'd drop a spaghetto.
And I don't care that I've lost. I continue to order a panino and bugger the ignorant look from the person behind the till.
--------------------
Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Pendragon:
quote:
Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
Like virtually every other Italian plural in -i, the singular ends in -o.
This is the language which my Italian teacher describes as having "an exception to every rule, an an exception to the exception"
I did the imperfect yesterday-there are two irregular endings which revert (confusingly) to an old form in the imperfect: -urre and -orre.
(I was also asked yesterday if I would like to take the class next time, as I was the only one to virtually finish the translation (by virtue of doing two things at once, to which my reply was "I got a lot of translation practise at A Level"-I did Latin and French.))
[edited because I forgot to count the brackets! ]
Funny you should say that. I found that Italian was essentially Latin vocab with French grammar, once you knew a few simple rules about how Latin words changed into Italian.
--------------------
Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Freelance Monotheist
Shipmate
# 8990
|
Posted
And isn't it cappuccino?
ch in Italian makes a 'k' sound whereas cc + i/e gives a ch sound like chair!
I used to say see-ah-batter for the Italian bread until I started learning the language at Uni!
I cringed in horror when I read that someone had seen a sign reading 'Panini's'...
Anyone read the book by Lynn Truss on punctuation, called 'Eats, shoots and leaves'?
It was good to know I'm not the only Grammar Nazi/Spelling Freak here!
FM xxx
--------------------
Denial: a very effective coping mechanism
Posts: 1239 | From: Paris, France | Registered: Jan 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
Printer-friendly view
