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Off topic: "Meaningless" phrases in English people use every day Thread poster: RominaZ
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:09
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Ty Kendall wrote:
More of crime of our American cousins.....
Also as in "I'll be back momentarily"
and the inappropriate substitution of "likely" for "probably" because "probably" takes a fraction of a second longer to say. As in "a printer with a Postscript driver will likely keep working without fail".
[Edited at 2012-01-23 14:30 GMT]
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| ... which they (sort of) learnt/ learned from Brits... | Jan 23, 2012 |
Ty Kendall wrote:
More a crime of our American cousins.....
As in "Get off of me", "Micky jumped off of the ladder" and "I can't take my eyes off of you"
The "of" is totally superfluous at best, meaningless at worst.
"Get off me / Micky jumped off the ladder / I can't take my eyes off you".
Either just use "off" on its own, or substitute with "from" on the occasions where that would make more sense.
[Edited at 2012-01-23 13:49 GMT]
Like so many 'Americanisms' I suspect this one is in regular use in several British dialects, and started on our side of the pond!
'Off of' is regularly used by one of my mother's old friends: 'I'm reading that book I got off of your mother again...' in a Christmas letter.
She lived on Canvey Island, in Dagenham and Ilford, and her latest address is in Kent.
****
Another expression that may have died down a little is 'sort of'.
We had a geography mistress who could say 'sort of' eighty times and more in a forty-minute lesson! She talked fast, but not uninterruptedly - she fired questions right, left and centre, drew on the blackboard, and (sort of) gave us a minute to (sort of) answer or write things down now and then.
It looked extremely industrious when soneone sat with a pencil at the ready and made a mark for every 'sort of'
I droppped geography and lived to regret it... well, sort of
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:09
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Some aspects of usage that were the norm in 16th century English were exported to the New World, where the English language then developed along a completely different path from the path it took in England.
So it's curious to see them coming back into British English, due to the influence of American films and TV.
Example: the past participle "gotten", which had long since vanished from British English, is now beginning to reappear in the speech of semi-literates who wa... See more Some aspects of usage that were the norm in 16th century English were exported to the New World, where the English language then developed along a completely different path from the path it took in England.
So it's curious to see them coming back into British English, due to the influence of American films and TV.
Example: the past participle "gotten", which had long since vanished from British English, is now beginning to reappear in the speech of semi-literates who watch too many American films and television programmes.
[Edited at 2012-01-23 14:36 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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XXXphxxx (X) 
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:09
Portuguese to English
+ ...
"He said, like, you know, ...", "So I like sat down and she like didn't...", "Like, you comin' or not?" and so on...
Definitely no longer exclusively American, it's Katie Jordan whatever-she's-called speak, innit?
[Edited at 2012-01-23 14:42 GMT]
[Edited at 2012-01-23 14:43 GMT]
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:09
Member (2008)
Italian to English
and I was like OMG, hello?
Valley Girl speak. Still widespread and shows no sign of abating.
Source: Frank Zappa, "Valley Girl"
Extract:
Like, OH MY GOD! (Valley Girl)
Like-TOTALLY (Valley Girl)
Enchino is like SO BITCHEN (Valley Girl)
There's like the Galleria (Valley Girl)
And like all these like really great shoe stores
I love going into like clothing stores and stuff
I like buy the neatest mini-skirts an... See more and I was like OMG, hello?
Valley Girl speak. Still widespread and shows no sign of abating.
Source: Frank Zappa, "Valley Girl"
Extract:
Like, OH MY GOD! (Valley Girl)
Like-TOTALLY (Valley Girl)
Enchino is like SO BITCHEN (Valley Girl)
There's like the Galleria (Valley Girl)
And like all these like really great shoe stores
I love going into like clothing stores and stuff
I like buy the neatest mini-skirts and stuff
It's like so BITCHEN cuz like everybody's like
Super-super nice...
It's like so BITCHEN..,
That was 1982 and it's still with us.
[Edited at 2012-01-23 16:19 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Ana Ricca (X)
Local time: 16:09
English to Spanish
| What happened was ... | Jan 23, 2012 |
It really makes me laugh when people start telling you a story by saying "What happened was ... I was in the park and ...
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Ty Kendall
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:09
Hebrew to English
| 'Americanisms' are like flares.... | Jan 23, 2012 |
They may have been in fashion once in England (in the 1600's for "gotten" and other such horrible sounding words), but hopefully they'll never come back into fashion again.
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:09
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Ty Kendall wrote:
hopefully they'll never come back into fashion again.
I'm fine with American English - but only when spoken by Americans.
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Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 08:09
English to German
+ ...
In memoriam | American, Brit, teen language, Ebonics | Jan 23, 2012 |
Why is it always mixed up? Any professional and educated linguist should know better.
The only annoying part is repetition, over and over.
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:09
Member (2008)
Italian to English
George Hopkins wrote:
It's the shit.
Learnt recently that "It's shit" is quite different from "It's the shit". Although "It's crap" is more or less the same as "It's the crap".
English is tough stuff.
Wicked.
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Ty Kendall
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:09
Hebrew to English
| Swear "down" | Jan 23, 2012 |
I swear (down - as opposed to up or sideways?) I've heard this with increasing frequency, admittedly though - only among the "lower" echelons of society. I'm not sure which ghetto or slum it originated from, but it's one of those usages which just screams "uneducated" whenever you hear it.
Oops, I think my elitism is showing
[Edited at 2012-01-23 18:34 GMT]
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Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 08:09
English to German
+ ...
In memoriam | Fascinating. | Jan 23, 2012 |
I am learning new words, wow!
Are you guys sure that you are not hanging out with the wrong crowd?
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Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 08:09
English to German
+ ...
In memoriam | Tell me about it. | Jan 23, 2012 |
Tom in London wrote:
and I was like OMG, hello?
Valley Girl speak. Still widespread and shows no sign of abating.
Source: Frank Zappa, "Valley Girl"
Extract:
Like, OH MY GOD! (Valley Girl)
Like-TOTALLY (Valley Girl)
Enchino is like SO BITCHEN (Valley Girl)
There's like the Galleria (Valley Girl)
And like all these like really great shoe stores
I love going into like clothing stores and stuff
I like buy the neatest mini-skirts and stuff
It's like so BITCHEN cuz like everybody's like
Super-super nice...
It's like so BITCHEN..,
That was 1982 and it's still with us.
[Edited at 2012-01-23 16:19 GMT]
They should play Zappa to any high school kid to get their minds straight instead of pulling dictionaries in class rooms because some mom blushed when she read the word "vagina" and called the school board. Brit schools don't even allow make-up for the young women and in some schools the kids have to wear ties in particular colors that reflect their performance.
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:09
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Nicole Schnell wrote:
They should play Zappa to any high school kid to get their minds straight
It had never occurred to me that anyone's mind could be straightened out by Frank Zappa.
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:09
Member (2008)
Italian to English
here's another thing I can't stand.
Person A "How are you?"
Person B "I'm good."
Correct form:
Person A "How are you?"
Person B "I'm [very] well, thank you."
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