Help my language please !!!

[Captain Oates 911]

The Americans are slaughtering my lovely English language and it's making me weep.

I will have to keep a record but the last few weeks I have been hearing 'DRUG'

As in ' He was knocked down by a car and drug along the road'

It makes my muscles go into spasm all over my body and I get a choking sensation similar to waterboarding.

Today I hear 'Emote' My god the noun 'emotion' used as a verb ? 'He was able to EMOTE his feelings so expressively'

'After he had emoted this, I spoke to him at his home'

I can hardly bear any more and it's raining too and my shares are down and the oil is gushing.

I could handle all of this except nouns used as verbs and appalling invented verb conjugations that deny two thousand years of craftsmanship around the language.

My feelings have been desperated by this....

Is anyone else desolized by this sort of conduct and do you have any other recordizations of Americanisms that make you ill (illify you) ?

[Nik+Heather 121]

I won't try to defend "drug" but, the verb to emote has been around longer than the intarwebz.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/emote

[Captain Oates 911]

Found this Ogden Nash (an American) poem:

Let us pause for a moment to consider the English,

Who, when they pause to consider themselves,

Get all reticently thrilled and tinglish.

Because all Englishmen are convinced of one thing, viz:

That to be an Englishman is to belong to the most exclusive club there is,

A club to which benighted bounders of Frenchmen and Germans cannot even aspire to belong,

Because they don't speak English,

And Americans are worst of all because they speak it wrong

Edited June 4, 2010 by saywhat

[Bernie C 24]

I strongly suggest that you take an extended vacation during which time you travel in a zig zag pattern accross the USA covering all states.

I am sure at the end of this trip you will require a straight jacket to prevent you from pulling out the last hair you have left (if not already gone and had to resort to pulling out hair from other parts of your body)

Not only do us Americans change and or invent new words every day, in some areas of the country they have no idea how to correctly pronounce words.

Even teachers in some areas, who are tasked with instructing our children, speak in what appears to be a strange and alien language.

Ever listen to someone from Boston say "Walk in the Park" (I swear they leave out the L and the R).

I was working in Louisiana for a while and it took me weeks to be able to understand the French Cajun's!

I've had better luck when working in Korea or visiting in Vietnam than traveling here in my own country when it comes to understanding people and what they are saying

And the kids - haha - I was listening to some kids in the neighborhood the other day carrying on a conversation and I thought maybe they were from Mars

I say I'd have to agree with you to some extent, although I will have to admit, I never did quite understand when I heard someone from your neck of the woods say "bloody well good" - what is the bloody thing all about

I recommend a Budweiser and a shot of Jack Daniels - hey its Friday afternoon (or is it hay)!

[twowls 217]

Yeah emote is a legit word. It usually means a more dramatic delivery than simple expression of thought. Actors emote, for instance.

Drug is one of those technically incorrect forms that is sort of tied to regional dialect and will probably become accepted at some point.

My personal flinch-makers:

"I have drank..." The form is drunk, as in "I have often drunk more than I should."

"I could of..." I could *have*.

That's it for now before my eye starts twitching.

[Captain Oates 911]

I won't try to defend "drug" but, the verb to emote has been around longer than the intarwebz.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/emote

It says date 1917 - 3 years into the war... a bit recent so I have my suspicions ...

[Captain Oates 911]

My wife is from Milwaukee-- lend and borrow are smashed to pulp - her ma comes from missisippi

'He borrowed her fifty dollars '

aaargghhh!!!!

[Captain Oates 911]

Yeah emote is a legit word. It usually means a more dramatic delivery than simple expression of thought. Actors emote, for instance.

Drug is one of those technically incorrect forms that is sort of tied to regional dialect and will probably become accepted at some point.

My personal flinch-makers:

"I have drank..." The form is drunk, as in "I have often drunk more than I should."

"I could of..." I could *have*.

That's it for now before my eye starts twitching.

I don't mind the various American accents at all. I was in the Britannia hotel in Bramhope, England last week and it's favoured by fleets of tour buses from Glasgow. I couldn't make out anything. When I got back to Washington State it was great to understand every word - even if spellingly they were just plain wrong (usage-wise)

Edited June 4, 2010 by saywhat

[Gemmie 142]

"I could of..." I could *have*.

That's the worst.

I pretty much hate how Americans turn their T's into D's. And make words with A's sound like E's.

Having said that, most of the awful language I've encountered have been said by English people. At the risk of sounding like a complete snob, I do judge others based on their grammar. For instance:

My brother's girlfriend is always saying "you've made it worse-er" and it takes every muscle in my body not to reach out and slap her.

In turn, my brother says "air commas" to describe the infamous air quotes that you do when quoting someone in speech.

I see people type versions of the English language that seem impossibly stupid (for example, "I fought" instead of "I thought"), and it makes me think.. is that actually how they've been saying it their whole lives?

Argggghhhhh...

[twowls 217]

That's the worst.

I pretty much hate how Americans turn their T's into D's. And make words with A's sound like E's.

Having said that, most of the awful language I've encountered have been said by English people. At the risk of sounding like a complete snob, I do judge others based on their grammar. For instance:

My brother's girlfriend is always saying "you've made it worse-er" and it takes every muscle in my body not to reach out and slap her.

In turn, my brother says "air commas" to describe the infamous air quotes that you do when quoting someone in speech.

I see people type versions of the English language that seem impossibly stupid (for example, "I fought" instead of "I thought"), and it makes me think.. is that actually how they've been saying it their whole lives?

Argggghhhhh...

Lol air commas. I basically have to stop myself at a certain point and just keep it to a few deal breakers that I allow myself to be annoyed by, otherwise my nitpicking knows no bounds. I experience reactions to the misuse of "less" when "fewer" is appropriate based on a numbered sum rather than an abstract quantity, for instance. Same with "amount" rather than "number." Wrong: "There is a large amount of people in this line (queue)." Right: "There is a large number of people in this line." If you can count it, it's a number. If it's a pile of sugar, it's an amount. But I know this is my own OCD and not a useful thing to get worked up about.

[twowls 217]

I don't mind the various American accents at all. I was in the Britannia hotel in Bramhope, England last week and it's favoured by fleets of tour buses from Glasgow. I couldn't make out anything. When I got back to Washington State it was great to understand every word - even if spellingly they were just plain wrong (usage-wise)

Yeah I try to make a distinction between regional usage, like a low-level patois, versus true errors based on ignorance. I don't mind someone saying they're "fixin' to" do something. That's a cultural adulteration. I do mind "supposably," because it's not dialectical, it's just wrong.

[Captain Oates 911]

There was 'a bunch ' of cops at the end of the road !

Wish I could do photo shop and combine cops and bananas

Actually, it seems strange to an English ear (or two in my case) but that isn't actually wrong - it's just usage, and a 'bardle of wadder' is still correct - that's just accent. So I have no problem with usage and/or accent - its the 'new' words that pop my skull. Actually, if they were new words then again that's ok - it's when they take an old word and butcher it into a verb that I get a skin rash.

I shall have to have a biscuit and serenatize myself

[twowls 217]

And of course all this assumes a native speaker who's had the opportunity to learn correct grammar. I'm not going to flip for an instant over the language efforts of a non-native English speaker or whatever.

But if your first language is English and you're still not picking up on the difference between you're and your or too and to, I think we have a problem.

And spelling isn't everybody's strong suit; I get that and I try not to correlate spelling with intelligence. But those who do have major problems with misspelling and incorrect grammar put the burden on the reader to see through the errors and perceive the intelligence behind them, which is like starting with a compromised hand.

[twowls 217]

There was 'a bunch ' of cops at the end of the road !

Wish I could do photo shop and combine cops and bananas

Actually, it seems strange to an English ear (or two in my case) but that isn't actually wrong - it's just usage, and a 'bardle of wadder' is still correct - that's just accent. So I have no problem with usage and/or accent - its the 'new' words that pop my skull. Actually, if they were new words then again that's ok - it's when they take an old word and butcher it into a verb that I get a skin rash.

I shall have to have a biscuit and serenatize myself

Ooh I love the collective terms for specific entities: a coven of witches, a pride of lions, a gaggle of geese, a pod of whales, a MURDER OF CROWS. Fantastic.

Invented regional forms, I like too though--on the east coast we say "a grip" and "a mess" for many.

[Captain Oates 911]

Yeah I try to make a distinction between regional usage, like a low-level patois, versus true errors based on ignorance. I don't mind someone saying they're "fixin' to" do something. That's a cultural adulteration. I do mind "supposably," because it's not dialectical, it's just wrong.

Verging on a Bushism. Actually, educated Americans seem to fall into two camps - those who are VERY good at English (a lot better than me), and those who extend the language because they feel no obligation to it's history. Why would an immigrant from say Poland or Romania or South Korea, feel the need to keep English authentic ? Actually I think a lot of the just plain wrong stuff is the result of immigrants learning English badly and perpetuating their mistakes. I have to be careful with that one because some of the words are English as it was in 1776 and which are not, or hardly, used in England now.

The new country always keeps the old language. Icelandic is ancient Danish but modern Danish has moved on. So it is with the U.S. and it's quite charming to hear words which went out of everyday use in England in the 1700's.

Felon and escrow and Sheriff and incarcerated etc sound really Dickensian though felon was still in use in English law until the mid 20th century.

A lot of it is the shortening of phrases into one word - incarcerated would be 'put in prison' in England and nouns into verbs have the same effect. McLanguage - quick ! instant ! move on !

I love finding Yorkshire words that express a whole sentence so I am not opposed to it. But the words must be original and not mutations.

eg THOIL = ' I can afford it but I can't bring myself to pay that because it isn't worth it'

as in 'It's ok but I can't thoil it'

NESH = feels cold more than the average

as in ' I am sweating cobs here but I have to sit next to her and she turns the heat up coz she is right nesh.