The gradual erosion of language

[Guest JavaGuy]

The gradual erosion of the English language... using the wrong word.

Week - A unit of time, generally denoting 7 days.

Weak - Not strong.

Days - Another unit of time, denoting a collection of 24 hours.

Daze - Unable to think clearly. Per this forum, see Voldemort.

Hours - Yeah, another unit of time, denoting collections of 60 minutes.

Ours - Something belonging to us. e.g. That house is ours.

Hugh - a proper name.

Huge - Really, really big. e.g. Hugh has really gotten fat. Why, he's huge!

There - A place you can point to, stand on, etc.

Their - Something belonging to them. e.g. That is their car.

They're - A contraction of They and Are. e.g. They're going over there to get in their car.

Here - Another spot you can point to, stand on, etc.

Hear - Remember the Verizon commercial? e.g. Come here. You can't hear me from over there.

Its - A possessive. e.g. That is the way a bird builds its nest.

It's - A contraction of It and Is. e.g. It's a crying shame the way that bird dumped its mess onto my newly washed car.

Your - A possessive. e.g. That is your car?

You're - A contraction of You and Are. e.g. You're going to get in your car and go home.

Want - An expression of desire. e.g. I want another pistol, preferably in 9mm.

Won't - A contraction of Will and Not. e.g. Even though I want another pistol, I won't be buying it anytime soon.

Sense - Ability to reason, to string two thoughts together coherently.

Since - An expression of elapsed time in relation to a measurable event. e.g. Ever since his wife hit him in the head with a cast-iron skillet, he hasn't shown a lick of sense.

The same statement translated into a local Southern version of English - Ever since Bubba's ol' lady hit him upside the noggin with a fry-pan, he ain't showed a lick of sense.

Where - Another place that you can point to or stand on.

Were - Was, were... He was there. We were there too.

We're - A contraction of We and Are. e.g. We're going over to that spot where they were sitting under the trees.

To - A preposition. e.g. We went to the ballpark.

Too - Also or excessively. e.g. We went to the ballpark too. We ate too many hotdogs while there.

Two - A number that is more than one, less than three. e.g. We went to the ballpark too, but we left with only two outs in the bottom of the ninth.

Effect - What happens as the result of an action or event.

Affect - The action of doing something that will cause an effect on someone or something. e.g. Too much drinking will affect your driving. A DUI will have a detrimental effect on your insurance rates.

Except - As in the exception to the rule.

Accept - Accepting one's fate. e.g. You have to roll with the punches and accept what comes to you, except for the times when you have opportunities to do more than one thing in response.

What's the point of this? I've noticed that some folks have misused a word or two here and there. I've noticed that some other folks have occasionally chided others for using the wrong words. The problem is that spellcheckers aren't smart enough to know which word is correct. That's where you come in.

I hope no one takes exception to this, but here it is.. well received or not. Grin.. I've got to get my posts up one way or the other.

[Guest Grout]

I am not the most edjumakated person around but I concur with your post.

[Guest nraforlife]

YOU - the pronoun of the second person singular or plural, used of the person or persons being addressed, in the nominative or objective case: You are the highest bidder. It is you who are to blame. We can't help you. This package came for you. Did she give you the book?

ALL - The whole of (used in referring to quantity, extent, or duration): all the cake; all the way; all year. The whole number of (used in referring to individuals or particulars, taken collectively): all students.

Y'ALL - pronoun. Chiefly Southern U.S. Variant of you-all

Sorry, I just could not resist...

[Guest JavaGuy]

Way back when, I used to hang out with some folks from up on the Plateau.. other variants are:

You'uns - A slightly larger group of people than ya'll.

Then there was also:

You'unses - A whole bunch of people.. all your aunts, uncles and cousins.. brothers, sisters, the whole clan.

[Guest GUTTERbOY]

Way back when, I used to hang out with some folks from up on the Plateau.. other variants are:

You'uns - A slightly larger group of people than ya'll.

Then there was also:

You'unses - A whole bunch of people.. all your aunts, uncles and cousins.. brothers, sisters, the whole clan.

Jeff Foxworthy defines "you'uns" as y'all plus three.

[cknight8]

Way back when, I used to hang out with some folks from up on the Plateau.. other variants are:

You'uns - A slightly larger group of people than ya'll.

Then there was also:

You'unses - A whole bunch of people.. all your aunts, uncles and cousins.. brothers, sisters, the whole clan.

whats sad is i've caught myself saying stuff like that...even though i know better. it just happens...

[Guest CrazyLincoln]

I dunno what yous are talkun about, I iz really edjumicated real good. Gooder than you and I ain't never hurd of nun of dis.

[bobmack]

javaguy,

something i've been noticing as well.

well put post. i guess we all tend to get a little careless at times.

[Rightwinger]

JEETYET?

Na

Wanto?

Yup.

Lesgo!

[Guest slothful1]

Lose -- to misplace an item, or to fail in a competition or other undertaking. E.g., "I ain't about to lose to the likes of y'all at Scrabble."

Loose -- the opposite of tight, rigid or secure. E.g., "That loser was wearin' his britches so loose they was down around his thighs."

[The Rabbi]

"Mayonaise." As in "Mayonaise building a load of condos on the ole farmstead.

Other betes noires:

Irregardless. Does not exist. No such word. Irregardless of what you might hear.

Crispy. An itsy-poo word. What's the difference between crispy and crisp? None.

Lay/Lie. Everyone gets this wrong.

[Guest CrazyLincoln]

Lay/Lie. Everyone gets this wrong.

I don't. I pick up girls to get lain.....

Yauntoo: "We goin' to the mall, yauntoo?"

[Guest JavaGuy]

Originally Posted by The Rabbi

Lay/Lie. Everyone gets this wrong.

Yep.. a friend of mine is an English teacher. She used to rip me about that one all the time.

[Guest JavaGuy]

Yauntoo: "We goin' to the mall, yauntoo?"

Uh huh.. Going to Opry Mills?

[Rightwinger]

Well like you know, language is hard to learn, you know.

I think, you know, it needs to be taught, you know, how we use it and like you know, easier.....you know.

I love watching an atlhlete try to speak on camera. If its not a prepared statement you can make a game of it. Every time someone says "you know" as filler, you have to take a swig of beer or a shot or something....you know!

We used to do that in college with the Bob Newhart show. Every time someone said "Hi Bob" we had to drink. Usually good for a major buzz in the 30 minute time frame and then we started drinking for real! (College, fraternity, ROTC = Billions of Brain cells I didn't need anyway gone!)

[Punisher84]

JETHRO GET OFF THAT THANG THEY'S MAKIN FUN OF YOO!

Funniest thing I ever read in my life. If anyone can tell me what book that's from I will have renewed faith in mankind lol.

[Rightwinger]

90210 the Clampett Chronicles??

[Guest JavaGuy]

Nope, I believe it was "Tom Swift and his Electric Runabout Meet the Clampetts."

[Punisher84]

90210 the Clampett Chronicles??

Lol nope. It was a short story in a non-fiction book about this guy's life. It was an incident at a Texas State Fair when him and some friends dared this teenager to use one of those machines that shock you and see how long you can hold on. The kid's mother yelled at him to let go, because he just kept hanging on.

[Guest JavaGuy]

Ah, the good old electric shock games. I remember reading something about that where the guy had everyone amazed because he kept moving the handle for more and more current. No one could figure out how someone could take so much.. and then someone noticed that he'd forgotten to put his other hand on the second handhold. ZAPPPPPPPPPP!

[Rightwinger]

Bad memories there....

Airborne units initiate their new members into the brotherhood of the "Prop Blast" in many ways. I got it twice moving from one unit to another. The engineer unit I joined had a mock up C-130 door to do mock exits from. They mounted metal plates to either side of the door so when we were commanded to "STAND IN THE DOOR", which meant you put hands outside the plane, set up in a good ready position to pull with your hands and push out with your feet. One joker is sitting in the audience cranking away on the old TA-312 field phone with the wires going to either metal plate. So your there getting your ass fired up with the juice while the other players are yelling commands at you. All in good fun since you got to eat and drink well afterwards.

Awww the memories. And I did it all for God and Country and 110.00 dollars extra a month jump pay. Sigh

[~Emily~]

The gradual erosion of the English language... using the wrong word.

Thank you!! It drives me crazy when folks use the wrong word over and over. I know I've done it myself but for the most part I'm so anal-retentive it becomes very distracting when trying to read some folks' posts. Unfortunately, spell-check doesn't help with this problem.

[Guest JavaGuy]

I know I've done it myself

Yes, we've all done it. Your mind is racing ahead of your fingers as you attempt to make your point... and you use you're instead of your or vice versa. Sometimes, as you write, you change the sentence in an attempt to make it better... and forget to change something at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the now modified sentence to make it match.

Oh, here's another one I've started seeing more and more.

An - A, An. A pistol. An apple. A turtle. An eagle.

And - This AND that. I bought a pistol, a box of ammo and an apple.

Unfortunately, I've seen people write things like, "I bought and apple." Conversely, I've rarely seen anyone write, "I like to hunt an hike."

The long and short of it is that we all muff it from time to time. Some folks will muff it and use the wrong word all of the time. I guess that's okay, but it's not correct in terms of proper English, and it does make some posts hard to read because of that.

[Guest Mugster]

Bad memories there....

Airborne units initiate their new members into the brotherhood of the "Prop Blast" in many ways. I got it twice moving from one unit to another. The engineer unit I joined had a mock up C-130 door to do mock exits from. They mounted metal plates to either side of the door so when we were commanded to "STAND IN THE DOOR", which meant you put hands outside the plane, set up in a good ready position to pull with your hands and push out with your feet. One joker is sitting in the audience cranking away on the old TA-312 field phone with the wires going to either metal plate. So your there getting your ass fired up with the juice while the other players are yelling commands at you. All in good fun since you got to eat and drink well afterwards.

Awww the memories. And I did it all for God and Country and 110.00 dollars extra a month jump pay. Sigh

Hahaha. Thats great.

[strickj]

It aint never bothered me.As long as them there aint talking like a hood rat I happy

The only one that bothers me is when people turn the word person into plural persons

The plural word for person is people!