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I consider myself rather particular about correct spelling and grammar in general, but reading this thread makes me feel I must be part hillbilly or uncouth or annoying, or all three!. I say many of the things that so many of you have complained about, at least occasionally.
I think what annoys me is when I hear any phrase (even ones that I use) excessively. But I'll admit I've been know to *occasionally* say "it is what it is," "So.....," "With that being said," etc.
I do find "learnings" as a noun annoying, but languages change. English does have a lot of "-ing" words that can function as a verb or a noun. Maybe once upon a time today's -ing nouns were only verbs. I don't know. I'm thinking of words like cleaning, decorating, wrestling, painting, etc.
When I was young, I used to get irritated when people said, "Do you play basketball?"
But then I read somewhere that another tall person who got that all the time responded with, "No, are you a jockey?" And then I couldn't wait for the next idiot to say it to me!"
I don't think this one has shown up in this discussion yet. Maybe I'm the only one it bothers: Gift as a verb. I only started noticing it, mostly online, in the last few years. It grates on me for some reason. "She gifted me a gift card". Ugh.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chiluvr1228
People that use smelt instead of smelled. While smelt is a word it has nothing to do with the way something smells. "I smelt burnt popcorn" is not correct English and I hear it all the time, sometimes from educated people.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ddm2k
Smelt
Learnt
Burnt
In a typical Canadian mish-mash of US and UK, "burnt" is common, but not learnt or smelt as much. So I'd be likely to say "I smelled burnt popcorn".
I don't think this one has shown up in this discussion yet. Maybe I'm the only one it bothers: Gift as a verb. I only started noticing it, mostly online, in the last few years. It grates on me for some reason. "She gifted me a gift card". Ugh.
In a typical Canadian mish-mash of US and UK, "burnt" is common, but not learnt or smelt as much. So I'd be likely to say "I smelled burnt popcorn".
When I was young, I used to get irritated when people said, "Do you play basketball?"
But then I read somewhere that another tall person who got that all the time responded with, "No, are you a jockey?" And then I couldn't wait for the next idiot to say it to me!"
I have a better one for you.
"no I don't play basketball, do you play MINI golf?"
I lived for nearly 30 years in the US, and still find this jarring, although I doubt anyone notices how incorrect it is anymore given the common use (having said that I think regional variations in language keep the world fun and interesting, unless it irks me, of course).
Fluffy wants in
Fido wants out
Um, Fluffy wants to come in, whilst Fido wants to go out.
And yes I used whilst. I’ve learnt it annoys Americans.
There are many idiomatic language usages that do not make grammatical sense. I imagine there are many in British English as well.
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