ugly idiosyncracies in english

[einride]

"didn't he used to have a volvo?", etc.

i know this is grammatically correct but it looks and sounds awful and inconsistent somehow and when the alternative is "usedn't he to..." it makes me want to kill myself out of sheer syntactical sorrow

what other things suck about this language

 

[dorian gray]

most of it sucks

 

[cthulufhtagn]

"have you got..."

 

[\/oidhanger]

I still think the plural of moose should be meese. Why do the birds get special treatment?

 

[Ellestin]

"didn't he used to have a volvo?", etc.

i know this is grammatically correct

is it now?

 

[Hell Mike]

Is that really correct?
I mean, time is already defined as past with didn't

 

[einride]

Is that really correct?
I mean, time is already defined as past with didn't

if it wasn't really correct i wouldn't have bloody well made a thread about it

 

[lurch70]

"used to" I think is some type of coloquial slang that came into existence in the 80's or so .... everywhere its used, the sentence would pretty much make sense even without it and convey the same message.

 

[Ellestin]

"used to" I think is some type of coloquial slang that came into existence in the 80's or so .... everywhere its used, the sentence would pretty much make sense even without it and convey the same message.

you mean

i used to be gay

and

i be gay

convey much the same message?

I would tend to agree on that

 

[einride]

"used to" I think is some type of coloquial slang that came into existence in the 80's or so .... everywhere its used, the sentence would pretty much make sense even without it and convey the same message.

actually it seems to be derived from the older form which is "used he not to"/"usedn't he to"

anyway saying "use" instead of "used" doesn't really solve the problem because it's still a terrible construct

 

[skeptik]

The English language is varied enough so that you can refrain from using awkward phrased such as "used to." As in, "didn't he formerly have a volvo?" It's quite nifty.

 

[Demilich]

"didn't he used to have a volvo?", etc.

dunno, i'd probably say "didn't he once have a volvo?" or "didn't he formerly have a volvo?"


edit: fuck you, lesser Matt

 

[Tranquillian]

there <-> their
"I could care less" when you really mean "I couldn't care less"
"I seen"

are errors that really bug me.

 

[Plastic Nathrakh]

English kicks ass. Spanish sounds like jibber-jabber. All European languages sound very intelligent. Russian sounds fucking evil.

But German takes the cake of ugliest sounding language.

 

[lurch70]

is English the language with the deepest vocabulary? i know its not Spanish

 

[Plastic Nathrakh]

The thing about English is that most of our words are derived from other languages.

 

[einride]

The thing about English is that most of our words are derived from other languages.

whoa

 

[WhiteBeastofWotan]

 

[Plastic Nathrakh]

whoa

What the hell is your problem man? lurch asked if it was the language with the deepest vocabulary, and I made a statement helping to affirm the reason why it may be.

Angry little fellerrr.

 

[neal]

But German takes the cake of ugliest sounding language.

you've obviously never been to france