"he should of..." instead of "he should have". I've seen that on this forum many times, seems to be more prevalent with younger writers.
As already mentioned, language changes over the generations. Sounds get added, dropped (ever wonder where those silent "e"s and "k"s come from? they were pronounced in Middle English), or even changed around ("wasp" comes from Old English "waeps"). Usually due to consistent phonological processes.
Semantic shift happens. Words that often occur together become fused. Pronoun systems change, simplify, or expand (e.g. "yall" is considered standard 2nd person plural in many dialects). Words are borrowed from other languages with varying degrees of native-like pronunciation.
Prescriptive grammarians get all twisted into knots because of it. Linguists love it.
Prescriptive grammarians getting bees in their bonnets is a common occurrence. It seems it happens with prescriptive phonologists too.
People should just quit being prescriptive about language. It's like saying that certain forms of life are incorrect. There's no question of correctness or incorrectness. Only questions of functionality and explanation.
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"If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?"
Speaking of trolls that is some nice editing you've done to ruin the context of everything I said.
See? I can do it too!
I just edited your text to reduce the length of the quote. Bolding the same parts within context would make the same point. You are constantly begging the question through implying that you are correct and others are wrong. That's no basis for a discussion.
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"If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?"
I just edited your text to reduce the length of the quote. Bolding the same parts within context would make the same point. You are constantly begging the question through implying that you are correct and others are wrong. That's no basis for a discussion.
It's called an opinion. If you can't respect that people have one different than yours then maybe you should just ignore the posts that you don't like.
Calling people trolls for thinking differently than you isnt very helpful either.
It's called an opinion. If you can't respect that people have one different than yours then maybe you should just ignore the posts that you don't like.
Calling people trolls for thinking differently than you isnt very helpful either.
Don't take it personally. In reading your posts I couldn't help but wonder if you actually were trolling people by the way that you were repeatedly taking a position claiming you know better than a majority and then not backing it up from a neutral position. That's bound to be inflammatory.
Have whatever opinion you want.
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"If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?"
Location: In a land without pants, or war, or want. But mostly we care about the pants.
Exp:
I say brusketta, but I wallow in pretention.
Also, do you say "provolone" proe-voe-lone-Ey or Prrov-o-lone? I say it the second way because I'm afraid Italian people will revile and shun me otherwise. And then where would I be?
I'll tell you - cheese-less.
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Better educated sadness than oblivious joy.
Also, do you say "provolone" proe-voe-lone-Ey or Prrov-o-lone? I say it the second way because I'm afraid Italian people will revile and shun me otherwise. And then where would I be?
I'll tell you - cheese-less.
But do you call capocollo gabagool?
When I first saw the sopranos I was like WTF are they talking about?
Speaking of which no Italians that I know call tomato sauce gravy. But that's way OT.
Last edited by Cecil Terwilliger; 12-11-2010 at 12:49 AM.
Location: In a land without pants, or war, or want. But mostly we care about the pants.
Exp:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger
But do you call capocollo gabagool?
No, I get all my pronounciations from my Sicilian sister-in-law. She calls it CA-po-COLE-o. I don't want to argue in case I end up on the wrong side of a vendetta.
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Better educated sadness than oblivious joy.
Yeah, but I find us descriptive grammarians are usually getting bees in our bonnets over prescriptive grammarians telling people what language should be, which is much more rational than prescriptive grammarians getting upset over the way language is.
Edit: I suppose for descriptive grammarians and phonologists to be happy there would just need to be an absence of prescriptive grammarians and phonologists. For prescriptive grammarians and phonologists to be happy there would need to be an absence of language.
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"If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?"
Can I just ask (or arks) if it is taught in North America to say 'drug' or 'drugged' when I was taught in England it was 'drag' or 'dragged'? Drug already has a definitive meaning.
Yeah, but I find us descriptive grammarians are usually getting bees in our bonnets over prescriptive grammarians telling people what language should be
It amuses me for the most part, and I'm sure we're all guilty of it to some extent (obviously, because I'm posting here), but yeah, hard-core language mavens can be a bother, if only for the misinformation they propagate. I know a few English teachers that don't know the first thing about english grammar (in the linguistic sense).
That said, some of the examples in this thread are great.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnnyB
Edit: I suppose for descriptive grammarians and phonologists to be happy there would just need to be an absence of prescriptive grammarians and phonologists. For prescriptive grammarians and phonologists to be happy there would need to be an absence of language
But if they didn't have language to be self-appointed authorities on, then they might start telling us how to drive / bike / pedest...
I know a guy who uses the phrase "physical year" as opposed to "fiscal year". Embarrassing.
Just last week I had a conversation with a guy who used the phrase "Yep, it's all finally coming tuition..." instead of "It's all finally coming to fruition..." lol
I felt embarrassed for him too, I didn't have the heart to correct him though. I don't know him well enough for that.
