i have become a grumpy old bag.
the main trigger for this is bad grammar used by tv presenters and people who write in the newspapers.
so what i am really is one of the grammar police.
it sounds so petty now and i will make a concerted effort to nip it in the bud.
but please don’t let me see “could of”.
it’s “COULD HAVE”.
practising smiling now instead
carole x
Your : you’re, winds me up. Still, at least they got an A* for trying… Tho sum times I rite Narfolk, so dunt get stressed. Yew gotta breathe gal. Dew yew keep a troshin bor !
With you there Carole.
I hate “I didn’t do nothing”. It’s I did nothing grrrr.
I used to be a proof reader for a newspaper before I was a medical secretary. I think it stems from then.
Shazzie xxx
hey carraboy
are you from norfolk?
i’m up in the wetlands of manchester so never heard any of those words.
what is a “troshin’ bor”?
my speech is abysmal so who am i to get wound up by others?
i have a hybrid accent wigan/bolton and it’s quite dire!
Haha,
I’ve done that type of work too, but you have to hate bad grammar and know it’s wrong before you can do the job in the first place. So I think it’s from my early education, and certainly from reading a lot.
I’m learning Russian at the moment, and for a native English speaker, it’s a real mind-bender.
For example, double or even triple negatives are not only allowed, but necessary.
If you want to negate a sentence, you have to negate every part of it. So instead of saying: “I don’t go anywhere.”, it would be: “I don’t never go nowhere.” In Russian, this is not contradictory - it’s just making all the parts of the sentence agree, so it’s logical - just not English logic. If the destination is “nowhere”, you cannot literally go there, so you have to NOT go there.
So if I start typing double negatives, you’ll know I’ve spent too much time doing Russian, so it’s starting to sound OK.
Tina
x
Carole. accents are not dire, differences are what make us interesting although lots of us (me included) do not like how we sound.
My grade ‘C’ O level English (without honours) mean that I make more errors in my written English than I should.
Mick
I’m a grumpy old bag without being part of the grammar police!! I couldn’t be sniffy about English as mine can be shocking. I’ve never managed to remember exactly when or where to put apostrophes. Which for someone who’s read as much as I have is just wrong! Plus, my iPad corrects me, sometimes wrongly. Damn the machines.
S x
Hi, I grrr when well educated people say things like more calmer or more cleverer…double superlatives methinks, yeh? Or do I need to be corrected on that?
pollx
I love accents! Can’t always understand broad Scottish, but love Scottish female speech (ie K T Tunstall/Karen Gillan)…
And yes Carole, I’m a Norfolker. Dew yew keep a troshin is norfolk for mind how you go/look after yourself. I’m yokel and proud ! Didn’t used to be, but have embraced the inner freak. I showed my Norfolk dialect book to my Chinese housemate when I was at uni. She spoke English and Mandarin fluently, but this made no sense to her !!!
More calm, or more clever, no ers needed.
what do I know? I’m just grumpy about everything, does that make me grumpier or more grumpy, but not more grumpier. Still don’t know what an adverb is…
Hi Carraboy,
I come from Karen Gillan part of the country but she is very refind. You would never understand me I spik nithin like her.
Mags xx
I’m with you hun - bad grammer adn speeling canna be acceptabible
Actually the ones that really annoy me are the ones that have already been mentioned
could of / could have - their / there / /they’re - where / were / wear - whether / weather - etc and the use of the word ‘like’ everywhere in conversation.
And with the increase of self-published books, I have noticed ‘more and morer’ of these
Grumpy Auntie JBK xx
oh man
what am i doing hanging out with the grammar nazis?
what have i started?
i feel drunk and haven’t even had a smell of alcohol.
perhaps that’s what’s wrong. i’m going for a brandy, see you later.
hic (in anticipation)
carole xx
It’s “One pence” that trips my switch.
Ben
But how often do you hear that now? The days of the penny sweets are over. More’s the pity!!!
If we are getting into pre-history…
I remember getting 4 Black Jacks or 4 Fruit Salads for a penny… (a proper big penny)
PS it is probably illegal to say “Fruit Salads” in case it is offensive to fruit … moi grumpy? cynical? I don’t thinks so.
Mick
I remember that too … Sigh … It was a special time … Fruit salad were lovely … So were black jacks !!!
And cola bottles, and flying saucers, and pink shrimps…
T.
x
you forgot the yellow bananas