Off topic: "Things we say wrong" Thread poster: RominaZ
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RominaZ 
Argentina
English to Spanish
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This video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbSSQe6vsSw provides examples of some common mistakes people make when they speak. Some of the examples are:
"I could care less"
"My bad"
"Little Italy"
"I want a whole nother apple"
"Accrost"
"Apprishiashun"
"Disaggreeance"
"Restoral"
"Supposebly"
Watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbSSQe6vsSw and enjoy. Could you add more examples to the list?
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Ty Kendall
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:11
Hebrew to English
| Think the link is wrong... | Jan 31, 2012 |
I don't see a video, just an archived poll.
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RominaZ
Argentina
English to Spanish
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TOPIC STARTER | Right link posted | Jan 31, 2012 |
Ty Kendall wrote:
I don't see a video, just an archived poll.
Thanks for the heads up Ty. I've corrected the link now.
Romina
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Neil Coffey
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:11
French to English
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| Ooo deary me the people of today it's all a bit of a worry... | Jan 31, 2012 |
RominaZ wrote:
"I could care less"
"My bad"
"Little Italy"
"I want a whole nother apple"
"Accrost"
"Apprishiashun"
"Disaggreeance"
"Restoral"
"Supposebly"
Dare I say that people who actually know something about the nature of language/linguistics tend not to worry about this kind of stuff, whereas people who want to pretend they know something do...
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David Wright
Austria
Local time: 03:11
German to English
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| juast what I was thinking Neil | Jan 31, 2012 |
In fact, a lot of the examples the guy suggests are wrong are just alternative forms or typical features of normal spoken English.
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Thomas Pfann
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:11
English to German
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neilmac
Spain
Local time: 03:11
Spanish to English
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David Wright wrote:
In fact, a lot of the examples the guy suggests are wrong are just alternative forms or typical features of normal spoken English.
Am with Neil and David on this. The amount of piffling little things that annoy the hyper-prescriptive never ceases to amaze me. Just this morning I saw a long tirade about the word "moist", which apparently has its own facebook page for haters...
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neilmac
Spain
Local time: 03:11
Spanish to English
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| 2 explanations | Jan 31, 2012 |
DM is a bit of a wag - I only wish I could get paid so much for being so grumpy! However, I think I can offer at least 2 explanations for "I could care less":
1) Ellipsis (a common feature of spoken English) in this case omission of "As if..." at the start of the phrase;
2) Over-generalisation of the barely-perceptible-at-the-best-of-times unstressed "n't" contraction.
Not so sure about "hold down the fort", although "hold down" does mean to keep something going as in "hold down a job" so again I'd say it's "pecata minuta".
Am tempted to cite the Shaw quote about how "it is impossible for a/n (English)man to open his mouth..." posted elsewhere today by Jack Doughty.
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Michele Fauble
United States
Local time: 18:11
Norwegian to English
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| What would Chaucer say? | Jan 31, 2012 |
Neil Coffey wrote:
Dare I say that people who actually know something about the nature of language/linguistics tend not to worry about this kind of stuff, whereas people who want to pretend they know something do...
And they don't seem to care about 'an apron', which should be 'a napron'. Well, OK, that was quite a while ago. Language changes - get over it.
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Rachel Fell
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:11
French to English
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Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 18:11
English to German
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In memoriam | "Things WE say wrong" | Feb 1, 2012 |
The title is hilarious.
It reminds me of certain obnoxious TV commercials: "You are me. I am you. Which is why we have the right product to fight your hemorrhoids / obesity / flatulence / pimples, etc."
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matt robinson
Spain
Local time: 03:11
Member (2010)
Spanish to English
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