Pet Peeves

[Kirk]

The usage of stupid as a comparative, e.g. "How stupid is that?", "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard".

I hate it.

OMG like how stupid is that?!?!

[Gormur]

The usage of stupid as a comparative, e.g. "How stupid is that?", "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard".

I hate it.

OMG like how stupid is that?!?!

Nå skal jeg drepe deg!!!

[Babelfish]

Gormur wrote:

Being a bit out of it at the moment, my memory fails me, so I want to ask what the following example is called in Engilsh grammar;

I've lent my vehicle to a friend.
I lent my vehicle to a friend.

(Is there some help available as to how to create Quotes correctly??)

Well, I was taught about this at school. This is the difference between Simple and Progressive/Continuous tenses. The first one refers to an unclear point in the past, and in a sense, the action may still continue (i.e. that friend still has the vehicle). The second one should refer to a specific point of time, and therefore feels a bit incorrect - "I lent my vehicle yesterday to a friend" would be fine. On the other hand, "I have lent my vehicle yesterday..." would not.

In a way this issue belongs more in the English forum, but from what I know of Latin, Russion, and Arabic, the difference bewteen complete and incomplete action (simple vs. progressive) is important in those languages too.

P.S. I do feel that your problem here with "stupidest" is one of the stupider pet peeves I've encountered

[Psi-Lord]

(Is there some help available as to how to create Quotes correctly??)

http://home.unilang.org/main/forum/faq.php?mode=bbcode#4

[Gormur]

Gormur wrote:

Being a bit out of it at the moment, my memory fails me, so I want to ask what the following example is called in Engilsh grammar;

I've lent my vehicle to a friend.
I lent my vehicle to a friend.

(Is there some help available as to how to create Quotes correctly??)

Well, I was taught about this at school. This is the difference between Simple and Progressive/Continuous tenses. The first one refers to an unclear point in the past, and in a sense, the action may still continue (i.e. that friend still has the vehicle). The second one should refer to a specific point of time, and therefore feels a bit incorrect - "I lent my vehicle yesterday to a friend" would be fine. On the other hand, "I have lent my vehicle yesterday..." would not.

In a way this issue belongs more in the English forum, but from what I know of Latin, Russion, and Arabic, the difference bewteen complete and incomplete action (simple vs. progressive) is important in those languages too.

P.S. I do feel that your problem here with "stupidest" is one of the stupider pet peeves I've encountered

Well, I was talking about the English language it self, not any particular variety, and would like to know the origins of some of these features as well as if some of them happen to be regionalisms in American English.

Thanks for the laugh at the end. I trust the pun was intended.

[Kirk]

The usage of stupid as a comparative, e.g. "How stupid is that?", "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard".

I hate it.

OMG like how stupid is that?!?!

Nå skal jeg drepe deg!!!

Haha

[Zoroa]

Certainly, for the third sentence, it would probably be more natural - regardless of which variety of English you speak - to say something like "He needs to arrive on time" or "He has to arrive on time."

I was thinking of something like : I recommended he should learn... Is it the same meaning, to AE and BE ?

Zoroa

[pastorant]

Maybe I'm just arrogant, but when I was in the Deep South, almost everything sounded wrong to me. I'm from NYC and maybe we're wired differently. If someone is talking about a scene in a movie, they would say something like:

"The car got all blowed up"

or they might say:

"He got himself killed"


or my personal favorite (not) when you say something and they don't hear you "Do what??"

[Le Serpent Rouge]

or my personal favorite (not) when you say something and they don't hear you "Do what??"

I noticed something similar at work. When someone says something you didn’t understand many people say “what?” I tend to say “what’s that?”, there's the occassional "come again?", the Canadians say "pardon?", and my African American colleagues almost all say “who?”

But this isn't a pet peeve of mine. I just think it’s really interesting.

[Gormur]

or my personal favorite (not) when you say something and they don't hear you "Do what??"

I noticed something similar at work. When someone says something you didn’t understand many people say “what?” I tend to say “what’s that?”, there's the occassional "come again?", the Canadians say "pardon?", and my African American colleagues almost all say “who?”

But this isn't a pet peeve of mine. I just think it’s really interesting.

Interesting. Depending on context I will say things like "say what?", "what's that?", "what was it?" [could you repeat that?].

Yes, "pardon me" is definitely Canadian and midwestern to a lesser extent (maybe used by older generations). When I first moved here I made the mistake of using my usual "huh?" (which they say is typical rude American English). Now I always say "what?" or "pardon?". I'm losing my identity, help.

[Gormur]

Maybe I'm just arrogant, but when I was in the Deep South, almost everything sounded wrong to me. I'm from NYC and maybe we're wired differently. If someone is talking about a scene in a movie, they would say something like:

"The car got all blowed up"

or they might say:

"He got himself killed"


or my personal favorite (not) when you say something and they don't hear you "Do what??"

Yes, I stayed at my friends' place (from California) when they first moved to a rural town in TN a few Summers ago. It was like another language spoken there. At the grocery they ask "would you like a buggy?" (a buggy meaning a shopping cart). One night they had some neighbors over and I had quite a time trying to translate the language. They used a lot of words like "fetch" and "fixin'" - "I'm fixin to...", (I'm going to), "I'm fetchin to", "I'm gonna fetch my car", and the best of all... "I carried my car to the restaurant". I was quite impressed with this statement.

[Travis B.]

or my personal favorite (not) when you say something and they don't hear you "Do what??"

I noticed something similar at work. When someone says something you didn’t understand many people say “what?” I tend to say “what’s that?”, there's the occassional "come again?", the Canadians say "pardon?", and my African American colleagues almost all say “who?”

But this isn't a pet peeve of mine. I just think it’s really interesting.

Interesting. Depending on context I will say things like "say what?", "what's that?", "what was it?" [could you repeat that?].

Yes, "pardon me" is definitely Canadian and midwestern to a lesser extent (maybe used by older generations). When I first moved here I made the mistake of using my usual "huh?" (which they say is typical rude American English). Now I always say "what?" or "pardon?". I'm losing my identity, help.

Around here, primarily "what?" or the longer "what did you just say?" seems to be used. On the other hand, I never hear "pardon?" ever used whatsoever, even by older individuals. Furthermore, "huh?" does not seem to be used that much around here, even though it isn't overtly nonexistant here in the way that "pardon?" is.

[Gormur]

Well my ND relatives use it, even the younger ones under 20. My guess is because ND is close to Canada - there's hardly a difference in Winter.

They also use things like "bugger that", or "what a bugger", "bugger off!", "canteen" [dining hall], "marks" [grades], "Phy Ed" [PE - Physical Education], and a host of other Canadianisms/regionalisms.

[Travis B.]

Actually, I should correct what I had earlier said about "pardon". At least here I have actually heard it on occasion, usually from particular individuals (who aren't necessarily students), even though I'm not used to hearing it at all over in the Milwaukee area, which is where I'm from.

[Kirk]

Well my ND relatives use it, even the younger ones under 20. My guess is because ND is close to Canada - there's hardly a difference in Winter.

They also use things like "bugger that", or "what a bugger", "bugger off!", "canteen" [dining hall], "marks" [grades], "Phy Ed" [PE - Physical Education], and a host of other Canadianisms/regionalisms.

I guess that just goes to show that dialects often don't correspond to arbitrary, invisible political boundaries. That's interesting.

[Ioannes]

I have two:

Norwegian: "kj" pronounced ([ç]) as "sh" ({I didn't find the amazing symbol in charmap])! Kjemi->sjemi etc. Horrible!

Greek: People who omits not only the 'ε', but also the final 'ει' in the word 'εντάξει'.

[Gormur]

I have two:

Norwegian: "kj" pronounced ([ç]) as "sh" ({I didn't find the amazing symbol in charmap])! Kjemi->sjemi etc. Horrible!

Yes, "kj" and "sj" are merged in many Norwegians' speech now. I always pronounce "kj" as an affricate like English "ch" (a bit softer though).

And sorry, but I don't like "sl" as "sj" either. "Jeg bor i Osjlo"...neida!

[Zaduma]

I absolutely hate when Germans say 'ah sooooooo!' I would kill all of them in that moment! They use it each 5 seconds! What is worse, the foreigners do it as well...

[Javier]

I absolutely hate when Germans say 'ah sooooooo!' I would kill all of them in that moment! They use it each 5 seconds! What is worse, the foreigners do it as well...

Yeeeeeeeesssssss I do hate it as well, but more than the germans - they are native anyway - , the foreigners !!! specially if they learned to say this "ach sooo" in a few months, it does not sound even natural !! and the worst is when they say it using their NATIVE language shame I do not have an on/off switch in my auditive system to switch it off in those moments

[Pips]

I've heard this a lot in the past few months: in French, when people say "au courant de" instead of "au cours de", as in "au courant des dernières années" ("over the last few years"). For some reason this really bothers me.