Isn't RAS an example of re-invention in and of itself? 4am in the morning is surely just tautology?
Red
Red
Sheath or Sheaf?
- Thread starter Jedadiah
- Start date
If you want to see the ultimate degeneration of language, read George Orwell's 1984 (if you haven't done so already).
One of the biggest problems of denegerative and specialist language, IMHO, is the resulting inability to communicate - and the potential difficulties that may produce. Someone like myself is unlikely to be able to understand a streetwise rapper (for want of a better example). Is the person in the hoodie just asking for directions, or trying to rob me? In an extreme case, I may react in a defensive manner simply because the person is unable to express himself in a way that I understand.
In a lesser way, bad now means good, wicked means good, etc.
Too confusing...
Geoff
I presume all the people criticising people who th-front or with spelling difficulties also feel the need to bite at people who speak with a Newcastle accent or a Welsh accent or indeed speak with a lisp or stammer. While you are busy having a go at people who do not speak "perfect" English, perhaps you should have a dig at everyone who does not have model looks, wear unfashionable clothes and struggle over their calculus.
No one is perfect, lots of people have trouble spelling and stumble over a few words, and yes I do the odd bit of th-fronting, always have, I try not to, but its not that easy when you done it all your life and you just want to get on with the business of speaking to people, if they don't like it, well they know where to go...
No one is perfect, lots of people have trouble spelling and stumble over a few words, and yes I do the odd bit of th-fronting, always have, I try not to, but its not that easy when you done it all your life and you just want to get on with the business of speaking to people, if they don't like it, well they know where to go...
rancid badger
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
it's SHEATH! not sheaf!
of course it depends what your talking about but if your on about knive's;
(there's another one repeated time and time again on here!: knifes!!!-AHHGGGGHH!!-it's knive's you £$£$%$%!!)
Fair enough, mind you, I'm supposed to be a thicko Geordie, but it's STILL sheath!
It's the bloody rain!,
HONKING DOWN IN NEWCASTLE!
of course it depends what your talking about but if your on about knive's;
(there's another one repeated time and time again on here!: knifes!!!-AHHGGGGHH!!-it's knive's you £$£$%$%!!)
Fair enough, mind you, I'm supposed to be a thicko Geordie, but it's STILL sheath!
It's the bloody rain!,
HONKING DOWN IN NEWCASTLE!
Not sure which posts Woodchips is commenting on, but I'm proud of my Northern accent and love to hear someone speaking in a good accent, much more than hearing the Queen's English. If I had to choose an accent for myself, I'd probably go for a Geordie accent, or maybe a light Scottish brogue.
My point (which may not have been put across well and wasn't intended as a criticism of peoples' abilities) is that groups who deliberately develop specialist language run into the danger of alienating themselves further from the mainstream of society.
Whilst my view may seem over dramatic, if humanity can't talk to itself, how can it resolve anything? Historically, the failure of talking leads to war.
Geoff
My point (which may not have been put across well and wasn't intended as a criticism of peoples' abilities) is that groups who deliberately develop specialist language run into the danger of alienating themselves further from the mainstream of society.
Whilst my view may seem over dramatic, if humanity can't talk to itself, how can it resolve anything? Historically, the failure of talking leads to war.
Geoff
That is not the case at all, this is not a dig at those who can't but those who can't be bothered. Those who revel in their ignorance.
I teach kids who have a perfect grasp of the English language. Something may be cool, but if it's really cool, it's not superb, magnificent or any of the myriad of words we have at our grasp. It's f##king cool. Just a modern slant on double plus is it? God help those who try!
My fellow Meldrews!
I'm with you all the way, I'm dyslexic and I find it aggravating in the extreme. . If I can be bothered to check my spelling then why can't someone without this problem do the same?
Knifes - Knive's
Sheaf/shieth - sheath
As to the news/TV etc. is it just me or does it annoy anyone else that when the news story is say, about cheese then a picture of a piece of cheese appears to the side of the reader?!? WE KNOW WHAT CHEESE LOOKS LIKE!!!!
One more thing . .is it "Dreamt, Dream't or dreamed"?
Kev
PS.
I have been known to out Meldrew a Meldrew
I'm with you all the way, I'm dyslexic and I find it aggravating in the extreme. . If I can be bothered to check my spelling then why can't someone without this problem do the same?
Knifes - Knive's
Sheaf/shieth - sheath
As to the news/TV etc. is it just me or does it annoy anyone else that when the news story is say, about cheese then a picture of a piece of cheese appears to the side of the reader?!? WE KNOW WHAT CHEESE LOOKS LIKE!!!!
One more thing . .is it "Dreamt, Dream't or dreamed"?
Kev
PS.
I have been known to out Meldrew a Meldrew
Be nice to get this settled as Silverback was on about this at a recent meet. Hope that this thread will make him happy.
Phil.
Phil.
I cannot begin to describe the relief this invaluable thread has given me. I have lain awake night after night pondering over correctly spelt knife masking descriptive possibilities and now may rest easy
Generally that's what they're trying to do. Slang within 'non mainstream' cultures generally exists as a way for participants to separate themselves from 'the mainstream'.
It's thought that cockney rhyming slang for example, evolved in the criminal underworld to prevent eavesdroppers from hearing things they shouldn't - a kind of thieves' cant.
Yup, you're right,
It was probably wrong of me to type as I did, though it gives an indication of the way it angers me. The news carries stories of brits (consious lower case) who are forever telling foreign visitors and immigrants to "Speak English" but they are the self same group who make such a pigs ear of it themselves, it is arrogant in the extreme.
As to the accent arguement, I really hate the accent of my home town, though I believe accents in general are a showpiece of the Great British diversity. It didn't take me long to realise that people from other parts of the country had great difficulty understanding what I had to say. They also formed a mental image of my background that I wasn't at all comfortable with. Hence I unconsciously developed an accent that I now believe is more readily understood by the greater populace. This, I believe, has led me to typing in a certain manner so that fewer of my posts get taken the wrong way.
I want to be understood, and one way I can influence that understanding is to spell as correctly as I can manage, and speak as clearly as I am able.
Ogri the trog
Errm I apologise, okay, right here right now, I shouldn't do this. But I'm going to.
Since we are going to be the language police...
In your sentence, you are implying an abbreviation rather than a possessive pronoun so the word you are looking for is you're. Equally the plural of knife is knives not knive's.
I'm absolutely not having a dig (really), but yes, the right word is sheath. However we all make typos or misuse words.
Who cares?
Red
My fellow Meldrews!
I'm with you all the way, I'm dyslexic and I find it aggravating in the extreme. . If I can be bothered to check my spelling then why can't someone without this problem do the same?
Knifes - Knive's
PS.
I have been known to out Meldrew a Meldrew
I think the plural of knife is knives without the apostrophe.
Oh, and dont forget though it is often used incorrectly as the plural, there is a legitimate use of knifes, in the form of a transitive verb. For example, to use a knife on, to stab or wound with a knife.
Yay, I'm a Meldrew.
Eric_Methven
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Does anyone else hate split infinitives or is it just me? Startrek has a lot to answer for.
"To boldly go where no man has gone before". (It should be To go boldly...)
Pedants rule!
Eric
"To boldly go where no man has gone before". (It should be To go boldly...)
Pedants rule!
Eric
Eric,
Shouldn't that in fact be "Boldly to go", I don't think it means to go in a bold way but rather that it is in fact bold to go there.
I see your pedant and raise you a nit pick
Red
Shouldn't that in fact be "Boldly to go", I don't think it means to go in a bold way but rather that it is in fact bold to go there.
I see your pedant and raise you a nit pick
Red
You both missed the preposition at the end of the sentence, naughty.
To boldly go where no man has gone before.
To go boldly to those places to which, before now, no man has gone.
Would the use of the word 'man' be too sexist now?
For the strict credit ‘sticklers’ amongst us, I cannot claim this is all my own work. I would like to thank Mrs White, my first year English teacher, an 'old school' English teacher from back in the days when you would lose, twenty-five percent of your exam marks for poor spelling, punctuation, and grammar, no matter the exam subject.
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