Abuse of English Language
Printed From: History Community ~ All Empires
Category: All Empires Community
Forum Name: Ye Olde Tavern Stickies
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URL: http://www.allempires.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=34310
Printed Date: 25-Apr-2024 at 16:05
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Topic: Abuse of English Language
Posted By: toyomotor
Subject: Abuse of English Language
Date Posted: 24-Jan-2014 at 04:51
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One of my pet hates is the persistent abuse of the language, particularly by the media. Where does the word "speciality" appear in the Dictionary? How about "gotten"?
Countless examples of language abuse are committed daily. Why? Doesn't the correct language provide all of the words needed to accurately communicate. Appreciate your views! |
Replies:
Posted By: medenaywe
Date Posted: 24-Jan-2014 at 05:48
French people will prove English abuses French&Latin...etc..etc.. Abusement includes "coital activities" inside human body.Language abuse:...inside Human brain!Regards.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coitus - http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coitus
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Posted By: Marlin47
Date Posted: 04-Feb-2014 at 06:43
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One of the many fine things about the English language ( and which makes it so readily assimilated around the World ) is its ability to absorb words, both of other languages, and jargon and the like. This seeming willingness flies in the face of, say, French, which requires government departments especially to screen out the adoption of English words that might appeal to the French people. One thing I do dislike though is how even well spoken English newsreaders abbreviate the phrase " going to " into " gonna ". This is slovenly beyond words......please pardon the pun !
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Posted By: medenaywe
Date Posted: 04-Feb-2014 at 09:31
Absorb is not abuse!Sorry I am living in allusions!
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Posted By: red clay
Date Posted: 04-Feb-2014 at 10:09
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English hasn't been spoken in 300 years. What we have now is a blend of local adjustments that have become general use due to improved communications.
------------- "Arguing with someone who hates you or your ideas, is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter what move you make, your opponent will walk all over the board and scramble the pieces". Unknown. |
Posted By: toyomotor
Date Posted: 04-Feb-2014 at 18:38
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Posted By: toyomotor
Date Posted: 04-Feb-2014 at 18:42
You're obviously referring to the US, and I agree with you on that basis.
I accept that even in the UK, "The Queens English" is only spoken by a minority of people, regional variances nation wide are the standard.
Although we do make some local adjustments, I think Australia and New Zealand generally speak proper English. ------------- |
Posted By: TheAlaniDragonRising
Date Posted: 04-Feb-2014 at 19:03
Then the media has been abusing for some time then, toyomotor, if your examples are anything to by, as "gotten" has its origins in the middle ages, whereas "speciality is a little over two centuries old, coming from middle English. ------------- What a handsome figure of a dragon. No wonder I fall madly in love with the Alani Dragon now, the avatar, it's a gorgeous dragon picture. |
Posted By: toyomotor
Date Posted: 05-Feb-2014 at 01:29
I agree. The electronic media in particular have a lot to answer for.
I've only heard the word "gotten" in recent times, in American TV programs.
The correct word is "specialty" not "speci-ali-ty".
I'd go so far as to suggest the Americans are the main murderers of the English Language, and NO, that's not America bashing. A large proportion of Americans don't even speak English, they speak "Ebonics" or "Spanish". ------------- |
Posted By: red clay
Date Posted: 05-Feb-2014 at 08:29
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One of the last places on earth where Elizabethan English is spoken are the Appalachians.
------------- "Arguing with someone who hates you or your ideas, is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter what move you make, your opponent will walk all over the board and scramble the pieces". Unknown. |
Posted By: Mountain Man
Date Posted: 05-Feb-2014 at 11:24
For starters, Americans do not speak English - we speak "American" which is a heady blend of every language from every group of immigrants that make up our culture. WE also enjoy an incredibly flexible language that can handle anything new or different that comes along, unlike languages such as French and German which must borrow foreign words or make up long, convoluted words because they lack the ability to evolve with the times. There was a black movement to teach Ebonics, but it failed. It was too backwards for anyone but the street gangs. Black rappers have done more than any other group to dumb down the American language. The correct term is "Spanglish" - the mixture of Spanish and American spoken in many parts of America. Spanish is a real language. Get down to Louisianna and you can try Cajun, a mixture of French, Indian and American, definitely a language all it's own, but still in the American mainstream. Australians speak the King's English? How can you tell when no one else can understand them? BTW, the "King's English cannot spell properly. There is no word "aluminium" - it is aluminum. No second "i" in the word. Meanwhile I could probably say a few things about the language of Cockneys and Lancashiremen, not to mention the lingual assault of Irish, Welsh and Scottish. When did gargling become a legal language?  ------------- Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? |
Posted By: opuslola
Date Posted: 05-Feb-2014 at 11:30
It is funny that you use the word "countless" in your above post. That is a word that is most always abused by the Media. I cringe every time I hear it spoken on News shows, since every time it is used the media people are referring to an event wherein the dead etc. could well be counted. And I might well have been asleep when the word went out to "all" media ordering them to stop using the word "pled", as in "Smith pled guilty etc. and instead almost overnight it seems "pled" was replaced by a much longer word "pleaded!" While "pleaded" is correct, so is "pled" and I can no need to completely eliminate it. Another similar case is the exclusion of the word "hung" from media persons, who have throne it out and totally replaced it with "hanged!" Another wonder of the media is that they almost always say or write this phrase; Mr. Smith was "shot dead" etc.! Does this mean that Ione might be able to shoot a corpse "alive"? Wonder of wonders. I have other examples but will not bore you with them. Ron ------------- http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/history/ |
Posted By: Mountain Man
Date Posted: 05-Feb-2014 at 14:28
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The media is largely composed of individuals who failed English classes. "two times" instead of "twice". "Lay down" instead of "lie down". Numerous examples of improper past tense usage. And on and on it goes... Funny thing is that I hear the same mistakes on the BBCA news channel. ------------- Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? |
Posted By: Mountain Man
Date Posted: 05-Feb-2014 at 14:29
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Accidental double post removed by poster. Happy now? ------------- Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? |
Posted By: opuslola
Date Posted: 05-Feb-2014 at 14:47
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And it seems that you even posted "twice!" smile!
And, since the amount of the written language has been shortened by a great deal since of the usage of "Text" communication, I can foresee a day not for into the future where all written language will be reduced in the like manner!! What do y'all (note it is the Southern abbreviation of "you all") think? In a text message it might well be compressed to "yal"!! smile Ron ------------- http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/history/ |
Posted By: toyomotor
Date Posted: 05-Feb-2014 at 19:50
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Mountain Man: You're wrong!
"There is no word "aluminium" - it is aluminum. No second "i" in the word. "
The word is spelled aluminium in English Dictionaries, it's only the USA which differs.
Please see the Oxford Dictionary of the English Language.
As for the examples you've listed, I'd take a guess that those people have been influenced by American electronic media-as has half of the world. ------------- |
Posted By: Marlin47
Date Posted: 06-Feb-2014 at 05:57
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I have long wondered just how long it would take before American(s) started claiming that they do not speak English but American. After all, this claim is yet another example of the flag waving, " Mom's apple pie " patriotism that other nations have come to expect of the USA. Arguably there is little wrong with that per se, and if it suits Americans, then so what, but I can safely say that on the few occassions I have discussed it with members of other nationalities, they, too, find it odd and can offer no reason for it. If anyone could suggest a source which could provide an explanation for the excessive American patriotism I'd be grateful. Could it be, perhaps, a reaction against just how the US is viewed by much of the rest of the World, notably, of course, by Muslim nations ?
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Posted By: red clay
Date Posted: 06-Feb-2014 at 12:31
It probably started sometime after the total incompetency of the British Crown, allowed the Richest Colony ever known, to slip through their fingers and become independent. And having had to fight 2 wars to establish this,that Colony felt no allegiance whatsoever to the "commonwealth". We speak "American English", it's a fact. I don't particularly see how that's viewed as excessive anything. We also play "American Football", so what?
"Excessive American Patriotism", hmmm. It could be an expression of a deep seated inferiority complex, born out of having to watch the UK win WWII, all by themselves.
------------- "Arguing with someone who hates you or your ideas, is like playing chess with a pigeon. No matter what move you make, your opponent will walk all over the board and scramble the pieces". Unknown. |
Posted By: opuslola
Date Posted: 06-Feb-2014 at 18:38
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Actually Redclay, before the telecommunications explosion, Americans spoke hundreds of versions of English! People living only twenty miles from your home spoke in a different accent and vernacular.
Actually Southern accents, are deemed by me to come especially from the English aristocracy that mostly settled in the Southern States, I.e. from Maryland South and West. Lots of Scottish accents also peppered this area of the world. Versions and accents of English are like As-holes, they are everywhere. After the two great conflicts with England, many people in the South, who might well have been of 100% English blood, began to refer to their heritage as Scot-Irish! LOL Ron ------------- http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/history/ |
Posted By: Mountain Man
Date Posted: 06-Feb-2014 at 19:10
Au contraire - you will find that the British dictionary is the ONLY dictionary anywhere which spells "aluminum" incorrectly. It is also spelled "aluminum" on the Periodic table of the Elements. Your somewhat lame attempt to lay the blame for linguistic slackness everywhere in the world on Americans is comically ironic, since I have heard Cockneys speak. I'm sure you remember the habit of dropping letters like H's. 'Onk your 'orn, 'Orace - there's a 'orse on the 'ighway. Hardly sounds like an Oxford don, does it? Deteriorating linguistic skills are a sign of modern education and social interaction. In the past, pioneers in America often had but one book to read - the Bible - and grew up perhaps poorly schooled, with an excellent command of the language. But then, my former brother-in-law was British and his command of the English language was atrocious at best, and that of his "mates" and his wife equally bad or worse. His children grew up sounding like ignorant gutter rats. Seems you should be looking to your own system to determine its shortcomings, and leave ours to us. ------------- Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? |
Posted By: opuslola
Date Posted: 06-Feb-2014 at 19:16
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A very good counter by the Mountain Man! As the English say "Good show, what!" LOL ------------- http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/history/ |
Posted By: toyomotor
Date Posted: 06-Feb-2014 at 20:01
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Mountain Man:
I disagree with you on the word aluminium, but I don't intend to get into an endless argument.
As for other "English Speaking" countries, like the UK, mangling the language, I agree.
But NO other country has had the cultural influence on the modern world that the US has. NONE!!
Look at Gangster Rap; Gang Hand Signs; caps on backwards; sports clothing; music in general-do I need to go on? ------------- |
Posted By: opuslola
Date Posted: 06-Feb-2014 at 21:47
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"WE de MAN! LOL
------------- http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/history/ |
Posted By: toyomotor
Date Posted: 07-Feb-2014 at 01:54
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