Spelling, again...

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
One of my biggest gripes is when people say 'I, personally-'. What does this mean????? :wallbash:It is the same as saying 'I, I' or 'personally, personally'. Another American phrase that has found it's way into our beloved language.....:doh:

My guess is they intent to say "off the record" or "my personal, unshared opinion is..."
 
My guess is they intent to say "off the record" or "my personal, unshared opinion is..."


Erm sorry.

But I think it should be " they intend " to say.............




;)
 
'Please understand that ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I shall not put'

- Churchill

(Not the car insurance company, the other one)
 
One of mine:
Overuse of the word "literally"; as in "literally, a heart-stopping moment" - well either it was.. or it wasn't, if it was, did you call an ambulance or perform CPR?
How many idiotic people are there who say such things as "my heart was literally in my mouth" - come ON... literally? really? I don't think so.
 
Another pet hate I have just been reminded of- ' I'm not being funny but, basically, at the end of the day-'.:wallbash: What is this language they speak???
 
I suspect they use spellcheck, which would not pick up on stories as it is the correct spelling, just the wrong word. My fat fingers quite often spell out instead of our, r and t being next to each other, spellcheck never picks that up either, not even in grammar check.

Which is why I never rely solely on spelling checkers. They certainly have their work cut out, given my dreadful typing ability, but I generally find yet more to correct upon re-reading what I've typed. Surely no major media organisation would place their faith in spelling checkers alone.
 
Another pet hate I have just been reminded of- ' I'm not being funny but, basically, at the end of the day-'.:wallbash: What is this language they speak???

When I encounter the ''I'm not being funny'' part of the above, I turn it into a game. The aim is to hear it a minimum amount of times before interjecting with
''Yes I know. I'd be laughing if you were''.
 
I've been known to complain to a manager at Tesco about the "10 items or less" signs. What the hell is wrong with the word fewer; it seems to be falling out of use?

The received wisdom on this is to use "fewer" if the word being qualified is plural and "less" if it is singular, intangible, or cannot reasonably be separated into single items. Eg: "Mercedes-Benz sold fewer cars than this year than last year." "The fewer tickets you buy, the less chance you have of winning." "Diesel engines tend to use less fuel than petrol engines."

The Plain English Campaign has summed things up fairly neatly by stating that 'fewer' (comparative of 'few') means 'not as many' while 'less' (comparative of 'little') means 'not as much'. However, as with any rule, there are exceptions waiting to catch out the unwary. Consider this note to editors from a recent TfL press release:

Some LU ticket offices now regularly sell fewer than 10 tickets an hour. The quietest ticket offices include North Ealing, which sells less than six tickets per hour, and Latimer Road and Moor Park, which sell only around seven tickets per hour.

On initial reading, it seems odd that they refer first to "fewer than 10 tickets an hour" and then to "less than six tickets per hour", but it's actually fine. The key word here is "regularly", from which it can be discerned that the first reference is to specific 1-hour periods during which the actual number of tickets sold did not exceed nine, while the second reference is to an average rate of sale (measured over a day/week/month or whatever period), which would be unlikely to amount to an integer.

Similarly, we would say that it would take us it would take us less than five hours to complete a task, or that we were driving at less than 70 miles per hour (honest, officer!), or that we live less than 10 miles from the nearest aardvark rejunvenation facility.

I would avoid ending a sentence with "or fewer", though, as I think it sounds awkward. M&S intially changed their "10 items or less" signs to read 'fewer', but later settled for "Baskets only". A victory for plain English.
 
One of my biggest gripes is when people say 'I, personally-'. What does this mean?????

This is an interesting one, as I almost started the final paragraph in my previous post with "Personally, I would...". Why? Because saying "Personally, I wouldn't do that" helps to prevent the other person inferring that I may be seeking to give advice, as in "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Using "personally" like this is more prevalent in written English, as when speaking we can generally rely on tone of voice to make our intentions clear.
 
Speaking of Americanisms that are being adopted here, when did we start referring to a stray as a "rescue dog"? Puts me in mind of a St Bernard waiting for its next Alpine mission.

Another phrase that grates every time I hear it is "anytime soon".
 
When I encounter the ''I'm not being funny'' part of the above, I turn it into a game. The aim is to hear it a minimum amount of times before interjecting with
''Yes I know. I'd be laughing if you were''.

Also, replying "Of course, you're not a comedian are you?" sometimes works wonders.
 
Speaking of Americanisms that are being adopted here, when did we start referring to a stray as a "rescue dog"? Puts me in mind of a St Bernard waiting for its next Alpine mission. .

I once had 4 rescue cats.. go figure!
:ban:
 
You lot really do seem to get easily irked by things!

The "I'm not being funny, but" one I can understand, it's just the way the uses of certain words change over time. Obviously it still means 'ha ha' funny, but can also mean out of sorts, straying from the normal, etc..

Language evolves constantly, everyone just needs to relax a little ;)

Would I be right in thinking a lot of people here get annoyed when people say 'I' instead of 'one'?
 
Would I be right in thinking a lot of people here get annoyed when people say 'I' instead of 'one'?

The use of 'one' when speaking in the first person generally occurs only in hyperlect. It's more commonly used in place of the indefinite 'you', where I find it still occasionally serves a purpose.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom