Grammer and phrases wot is irritating

[Tetenterre]

Latest post of the previous page:

One can get into bad vocal habits so easily. When I was in the RAF a wireless operator privately called Squadron Leaders "Squabbling Bleeders" and Wing Commanders "Ring Demanders" - until he actually used the first on the voice circuit one day and got severely clanged!

Similar situation with one of our babysitters when the offspring were young. One was named Georgette. The offspring thought it was "courgette", so the name stuck -- until my normally better half phoned up and asked her dad if she could speak to "Courgette".

[animist]

I have noticed that many people don't seem to know the difference between "i.e." and "e.g." - I see "i.e." often used to precede an example of the general point being made. My last boss did this a year or two ago, and seemed baffled even when I mentioned that the two abbreviations are different in function.

[Dave B]

Oh how the standards are falling . . .

[animist]

Oh how the standards are falling . . .

you just can't get the bosses these days

[Alan H]

A boss of mine once wrote in an email about a 'mute point'.

[Dave B]

A careful analysis of a notice by the Company Secretary of one company I worked for informed us that we were not allowed to die in company service without prior permission.

[Tetenterre]

A boss of mine once wrote in an email about a 'mute point'.

In the amateur astronomy community, I repeatedly find, from people who should know better, words like "aperature" (aperture) and "columnation" (collimation).

[Dave B]

I have always had a problem with the, "i before e except after c" rule.

Despite trying very hard I still end up typing, "receieving" or "recieiving" most times.

In our city library there was a sign pointing to: "Childrens Books"

In a frigging library! I was so tempted to sneak a bottle of Snopake in and add the comma.

[Tetenterre]

I have always had a problem with the, "i before e except after c" rule.

It's a much maligned rule, ever since the first and last parts of it seem to have been forgotten:
"When the sound is like 'ee', i before e except after c; Exceptions:....."

[getreal]

In our city library there was a sign pointing to: "Childrens Books"

What a disgrace!

Why are young people now dropping their "h"s? This was only common in some parts of England (was it the SE?) and now seems to have infested Scotland. Everyone under 30 appears to do this. Apparently, a lot of Scottish children are now unable to pronounce "ch" as in "loch" and use a hard "k" instead. WTF????

[Dave B]

The dropped "h" is not uncommon in Yorkshire, "God preserve us from 'Ell, 'Ull and 'Alifax." Perhaps it is sneaking up north?

Blame both the media and mobility I suppose, the Essex swallowed "t" has appeared even in Gloucester.

[getreal]

Sorry, Dave, I must have the wrong word. It's not "dropping" Hs. It's when it's pronounced as a two syllable word--"hay" + "ch". Not sure what it's called.

[Tetenterre]

Found in the larder cupboard (surprised I haven't noticed this before):

IMAG0043.jpg (50.98 KiB) Viewed 1850 times

[Dave B]

Some arty farty ad person's idea of making the product distinctive?

[Nick]

Never mind dropped Hs. What about missing Ts?

As in "communi'y" AAAaaaaaghhhhh!

[Dave B]

That's close to the "swallowed T", Nick. Trying to work out how to spell "bottle" as spoken like that, "bo(t)-ul" is the closest I can get, the tongue is not raised to the back of the teeth for the "T" sound.

[Tetenterre]

I believe it's called a "glottal stop" -- allow me to repeat that: I believe iʔ's called a "gloʔal stop".

[getreal]

Isn't that called a glottal stop?

I actually don't mind that as it seems to be common to some dialects -West Country for instance. When I first met my brother in law's new girlfiriend, from Bristol, I said she had an accent like Pam Ayres. Unfortunatly she didn't think this a complement.

The "hay" + "ch" appears to be more of an affectation and a recent one than that. I blame East Enders*

*not in general. The TV programme

x posted.

[Dave B]

I believe it's called a "glottal stop" -- allow me to repeat that: I believe iʔ's called a "gloʔal stop".

You are right, I am trying to remember where I heard it described as a "swallowed "T" ".

Trouble is the term "glottal stop" can be applied to other letters:

"Nowadays younger speakers of many forms of British English have glottal stops at the ends of words such as cap, cat, and back. A generation or so ago speakers of BBC English would have regarded such a pronunciation as improper, almost as bad as producing a glottal stop between vowels in the London Cockney pronunciation of butter . . .. In America nearly everybody has a glottal stop in button and bitten . . .."
(Peter Ladefoged, Vowels and Consonants: An Introduction to the Sounds of Languages, Vol. 1, 2nd ed. Blackwell, 2005)

Here

[Emma Woolgatherer]

I've just come across this series of Ask the Edtior videos by Merriam-Webster. I think they're rather good.

Emma

[Alan C.]

Top level ejucashun in Nebraska.