Americans... Riddle me this...

[Namisgr11]

As slang chill can be used as a noun, describing a state of being.  Besides, the Americans and the English must continue to be great friends and allies, separated by a common language. 😉

[ha_banos]

33 minutes ago, Namisgr11 said:

As slang chill can be used as a noun, describing a state of being.  Besides, the Americans and the English must continue to be great friends and allies, separated by a common language. 😉

[JohnS]

9 hours ago, Arabian said:

I enjoyed studying English in school more than my native Arabic and its difficult grammar and rules, I had higher grades in English than Arabic. The most difficult part about English is sometimes it doesn't make any sense especially with vocab list that keeps updating with new words and slang each day.

Exactly. Too often, this point is lost on people who have English as a first language and reside in a first world country. They somewhat forget that despite English being the current lingua franca of the world (i.e the common bridging language for people to use who don't have the same first language. In the Western World, going back, it used to be French, Latin and Greek...hence why those languages make up a significant part of modern English), there are perhaps 1.5 billion people out there that follow English as a second language, but are not 'au fait' with figurative terms in English, especially idioms.

[Nevrknow]

10 hours ago, 99call said:

I have no issue with the evolution of language, The great, and much missed, Nino Munoz very much changed my mind on that issue.    However change should have some essence of improvement or efficiency, something that is positive. 

This is not a dig at Americans, but I have notices that the Americans that I have worked with within my profession,  seem to add "ability" and "ization" onto a multitude of words in an effort to try and make themselves sound more technical or impressive.    The resulting effect is incredibly confusing, awkward and less efficient/affective. 

In conclusion, I'm all for the ingenious shorthand developments of the English language, or cultural influences and adaptions,  it can add colour and character.    What I dislike is when people make alterations that make the language sluggish, awkward, confusing, incoherent and ugly. i.e. not an improvement, but rather a downgrade. 

I literally burst out laughing when I hear people do this. 😂😂😁

 

👍🏻

[BoliDan]

10 hours ago, 99call said:

I have no issue with the evolution of language, The great, and much missed, Nino Munoz very much changed my mind on that issue.    However change should have some essence of improvement or efficiency, something that is positive. 

This is not a dig at Americans, but I have notices that the Americans that I have worked with within my profession,  seem to add "ability" and "ization" onto a multitude of words in an effort to try and make themselves sound more technical or impressive.    The resulting effect is incredibly confusing, awkward and less efficient/affective. 

In conclusion, I'm all for the ingenious shorthand developments of the English language, or cultural influences and adaptions,  it can add colour and character.    What I dislike is when people make alterations that make the language sluggish, awkward, confusing, incoherent and ugly. i.e. not an improvement, but rather a downgrade. 

What's with the hate against our vernacularization? I think it's a testament to our adaptablization of vocabularability. 

[Chibearsv]

45 minutes ago, BoliDan said:

What's with the hate against our vernacularization? I think it's a testament to our adaptablization of vocabularability. 

Brilliant!

[Chas.Alpha]

The moment someone says "Irregardless", the conversation is over...😐

 

13 hours ago, Arabian said:

I enjoyed studying English in school more than my native Arabic and its difficult grammar and rules, I had higher grades in English than Arabic. The most difficult part about English is sometimes it doesn't make any sense especially with vocab list that keeps updating with new words and slang each day.

Bear with me, as I bare my soul regarding the tale of the three bears.

[SCgarman]

1 hour ago, Chas.Alpha said:

The moment someone says "Irregardless", the conversation is over...😐

The one that gets myself is "methinks". What a dumb word, IMO

[Ken Gargett]

nouns that become verbs. hate them.

eg, when did a gift become a verb? gifted? what tosh! gave, give, given - if you can't make it work with them, keep the bloody thing. 

[ctsigler317]

It’s like the “Speed Hump” sign in my neighborhood.  Quite different meaning if hump is a verb instead of a noun. 

[Chibearsv]

2 hours ago, SCgarman said:

The one that gets myself is "methinks". What a dumb word, IMO

 

3 hours ago, Chas.Alpha said:

The moment someone says "Irregardless", the conversation is over...😐

“I could care less” sends me over the edge 🤨

[SirVantes]

16 hours ago, Arabian said:

 The most difficult part about English is sometimes it doesn't make any sense especially with vocab list that keeps updating with new words and slang each day.

 

4 hours ago, Chas.Alpha said:

 

Bear with me, as I bare my soul regarding the tale of the three bears.

I wonder how someone new to English would react if asked to speak a sentence such as:

Having it thought it through though, he decided it was too tough to plough on with this cough.

And @Chas.Alpha Regale me with your tale, good man, for the bears' tails are a delicacy and they cost a tael, as does the silver platter that bears my sole (pan fried, yum).

[Ford2112]

Welp....

[Rhod]

[Ken Gargett]

whatever. i am completely in accord with matt damon in 'i bought a zoo' (love the film) on that. 

[Chibearsv]

12 hours ago, Ken Gargett said:

whatever. i am completely in accord with matt damon in 'i bought a zoo' (love the film) on that. 

A few years ago, in the parking lot at my office, I was sitting in my car completing a phone call when a woman pulled in to the space next to me and opened her car door into my car, hard enough to dent my fender, and she walked away toward the building.  I hung up my call and caught up with her and told her that she just damaged my car by smacking her door into it.  Her response: "whatever".  My response caused her to call the police.  

 

[SCgarman]

7 hours ago, Chibearsv said:

A few years ago, in the parking lot at my office, I was sitting in my car completing a phone call when a woman pulled in to the space next to me and opened her car door into my car, hard enough to dent my fender, and she walked away toward the building.  I hung up my call and caught up with her and told her that she just damaged my car by smacking her door into it.  Her response: "whatever".  My response caused her to call the police.  

What happened next? 

[Chibearsv]

2 hours ago, SCgarman said:

What happened next? 

Police told me to not use such harsh language since "it only leads to trouble".  Then they showed her where my car was damaged and asked her to provide insurance coverage information to me along with her contact information to repair the damage.  Truth is, all she had to say was "oh I'm so sorry..." and I would have accepted the apology and moved along.  "Whatever" made me want to ruin her day.  I loved that she called the police since I did nothing wrong except curse her out in public.  She turned as red as a beet when the police required her to fix the damage she caused and didn't do anything to me except to ask me to calm down. 😁

[SCgarman]

3 hours ago, Chibearsv said:

Police told me to not use such harsh language since "it only leads to trouble".  Then they showed her where my car was damaged and asked her to provide insurance coverage information to me along with her contact information to repair the damage.  Truth is, all she had to say was "oh I'm so sorry..." and I would have accepted the apology and moved along.  "Whatever" made me want to ruin her day.  I loved that she called the police since I did nothing wrong except curse her out in public.  She turned as red as a beet when the police required her to fix the damage she caused and didn't do anything to me except to ask me to calm down. 😁

All worked out well. I might have had a harder time biting my tongue, if I were in your place. Sometimes emotions being high at the time can lead to an unfortunate escalation. Especially with her snarky "whatever " attitude.

[Chibearsv]

45 minutes ago, SCgarman said:

All worked out well. I might have had a harder time biting my tongue, if I were in your place. Sometimes emotions being high at the time can lead to an unfortunate escalation. Especially with her snarky "whatever " attitude.

Believe me, I got it all out of my system by the time the cops arrived. She called them because I didn’t bite my tongue. It was funny listening to her telling the cops the things I said to her.  They’d look at me and I just shrugged with a smile on my face.

[puromaniac]

On 12/26/2023 at 4:41 PM, Ken Gargett said:

nouns that become verbs. hate them.

eg, when did a gift become a verb? gifted? what tosh! gave, give, given - if you can't make it work with them, keep the bloody thing. 

Then there are people like me who don't like it when someone sucks the juice out of verbs by turning them into nouns (gerunds). Just sayin' 😁

[Ken Gargett]

1 hour ago, puromaniac said:

Then there are people like me who don't like it when someone sucks the juice out of verbs by turning them into nouns (gerunds). Just sayin' 😁

indeed. i am all in favour of everything staying in its place!