Languages and those who violate them

[Northern Lights]

It has been bothering me enough to start a thread about it; the constant abuse of my (and other) language(s) by those who are supposed to be natives.
Since I gather some of you on here are trying to learn Swedish, it might be good to point out a few mistakes you shouldn't make. For example, the awful habit Swedes have adopted of separating words that belong together when writing. Särskrivning in Swedish. I have no idea how to translate that (apart-writing?). Anyway, that particular habit is so bad because there are quite a lot of Swedish words that have been 'put together', so to speak, and will get a completely different meaning when parted. I'll just give you the most obvious example:
You're at a Swedish restaurant and spot a sign that says "rökfritt". You immediately understand that rökfritt means you're not allowed to smoke in there. Now you enter a second restaurant and spot a similar sign, only it says "rök fritt", translated as "smoke freely". So, smoke as much as you want then. You light up and you're immediately told by a pissed off waitress that it's forbidden to smoke in the restaurant, "didn't you see the sign?"
Could happen.

Anyway, I'm sure I'm not the only language fascist out there (she said hopefully), otherwise this thread will disappear into nothingness (where it belongs). What mistakes/abuses/etc. really bother you when it comes to your language? Or English, as it seems to be something most of us speak/write...

 

[Wolfman Von Jones]

I hate when people say 'yous' as in, "Hey, what are yous doing?" Instead of, "Hey, what are you people doing?"

Nick

 

[Rusty]

I can only speak about English, but for me the most irritating thing by a country mile is "I could care less". And some people realise it's wrong but go right ahead and carry on using it, and don't care that they're actually saying the exact opposite of what they truly mean. Such a violent and sordid rape of the language, it makes me physically cringe whenever I see it. Thankfully it seems to be an American thing, since I can only remember seeing/hearing Americans using it. It hasn't invaded these shores yet, but I'm sure it will soon. Just like the stereotypical American blonde cheerleader talk of "that's, like, SO cool" which is spreading like wildfire over here. "Like", eurgh. It's not like so cool, it either is or it isn't. You shouldn't be like an adjective, you should be like a noun. "That's like something cool", yes, much better thank you. Or, how about "it was, like, 4 months ago". What, "it was as if 4 months ago"?? I beg your pardon?? Or, "and I was like 'mum, get out of my room', and she was like 'no' and..." FOR GODS' SAKES you cannot replace "I said" with "I was like" and pass if off as even remotely barely-adequate English.

Dammit I'm getting all flustered now, I need water.

 

[M.]

yes wolfman, my boyfriend's hardcore philly familiy says YOUS all the time. they also say "higher it up" or "lower it down" in stead of "turn it up/down"
FUCK!
then there's the ever popular your/you're, were/we're/where crap that ONLY americans do...and its our first and only language, one would think we'd at least be able to write such common words correctly, right?
and sticking words together that arent supposed to be together, like "alot" or even worse, "allot"
HELLO? ARE YOU STUPID?

i could go on....

 

[hyena]

@rusty: thanks for your post. actually, as a non-native speaker, i thought that the use of "like" in sentences such as "she was like 'no'" was correct. now i know it isn't.

 

[Wolfman Von Jones]

I think your like totally cool with your stance Rusty, like totally. Then again, I could care less .

Nick

 

[Rusty]

@rusty: thanks for your post. actually, as a non-native speaker, i thought that the use of "like" in sentences such as "she was like 'no'" was correct. now i know it isn't.

Believe me, it's my pleasure. If I can stop even one person from using that grotesque usage, I feel I've made the world a better place.

@Nick: I know you're joking, but even so it irritates me so godsdamn much. And I now have someone saying it to me in an MSN chat too, solely to irritate me. Oh, the joy.

 

[Dark_Jester]

Bored of.
I absolutely hate it when people say 'I'm bored of this'. It is supposed to be 'with', 'I'm bored with this'. I know it's irregular, and most expressions use of, e.g. I'm tired of this, I'm sick of this, etc etc, but this one is different. Just remember it, and use the damned phrase properly. I'm not talking just to people learning English, but people who have been speaking it all their lives and still don't seem to know how to form a proper sentence.

 

[Wolfman Von Jones]

See it just goes to show you not to like let your guard down on the DT forum, totally.

Nick

 

[Rusty]

Bored of.
I absolutely hate it when people say 'I'm bored of this'. It is supposed to be 'with', 'I'm bored with this'. I know it's irregular, and most expressions use of, e.g. I'm tired of this, I'm sick of this, etc etc, but this one is different. Just remember it, and use the damned phrase properly. I'm not talking just to people learning English, but people who have been speaking it all their lives and still don't seem to know how to form a proper sentence.

Oh yes, and "different to" instead of "different from" is similar to that.

 

[Dark_Jester]

And pronunciation. When people get bored and don't pronounce 'th' at all, or when they make it a 'd' sound. It doesn't make you sound cool, it makes you sound like you've got a cold.

 

[Rusty]

Oh, oh, oh, I have another one. :hotjump: *getting right into this now* I'll give an example that actually happened:

Bloke: What's wrong with my code??
Me: *looks at it* You left a semi-colon out here.
Bloke: Oh, is it??

WHAT?? Now THAT's irritating. No matter what's been previously said, to come back with "is it??" as if to clarify something, sometimes even just for the sake of it, makes me want to brutally maim the person in question. Of course if I'd have said something like "the problem is this.." then a reply of "is it??" would at least be appropriate. Or a reply of "did I??", fair enough. But just to randomly reply to anything with "is it??" just isn't on.

"I went shopping yesterday."
"Is it??"

 

[Rusty]

And pronunciation. When people get bored and don't pronounce 'th' at all, or when they make it a 'd' sound. It doesn't make you sound cool, it makes you sound like you've got a cold.

We have an Irish maths lecturer who refuses to pronounce any kind of "th". His "three" comes out as "tree" and his "there" comes out as "dere". Needless to say, we all giggle like small children when he attempts to say "third".

 

[Dark_Jester]

This is a purely Yorkshire thing, but saying thing's like 'I were gone while nine' instead of 'I was gone until nine', and using 'were' for the singular, and 'was' for the plural. 'We was gone while nine'.

 

[rahvin]

look what you've done with your first thread on this forum, anna: i seriously hope that now that you got rusty so overexcited, you're also going to volunteer to clean the carpet.

 

[Rusty]

This is a purely Yorkshire thing, but saying thing's like 'I were gone while nine' instead of 'I was gone until nine', and using 'were' for the singular, and 'was' for the plural. 'We was gone while nine'.

That's annoying, but strangely enough the (mainly) Geordie thing of using "us" instead of "me" doesn't annoy me. For example, "meet us inside", when the real meaning is "meet me inside". Of course my old man's a Geordie, I'm probably biased.

I've also been tightening up my pronunciation lately, since I noticed I can get pretty slack when I'm not paying attention. People now call me posh because I say "th" instead of "f" and actually pronounce my "t"s.

 

[Dark_Jester]

And Italians! Italians who speak English!!!
(Falls off chair, and falls to the floor giggling hysterically, tears pouring out of his eyes while muttering 'mama mia!' over and over again)

 

[Rusty]

(Falls off chair, and falls to the floor giggling hysterically, tears pouring out of his eyes while muttering 'mama mia!' over and over again)

I've been known to do similar, but with muttering "caro mio" instead. He seems to like it.

 

[rahvin]

while muttering 'mama mia!'

it's mamma mia, mr. clever dick. :Smug:

edit: that was perfect, rusty, it's an a for you. i'll go to bed now. and no, that wasn't an invitation.

 

[Dark_Jester]

My dick's cleverer than yours, Captain Mafia