Grammer and Speaking - Pet Peeves

At first, I thought he was talking about Kelsey Grammer.

 

I spent my entire career in a field where a command of the language is necessary to acquire and keep a job. It was my responsibility to school our budding young television journalists in the correct use of the language.

I'm afraid it's a losing battle. Misuse has reached the top levels of my profession. And the problem is that they don't even know they're misusing English.

For instance, the use of "for free" has permeated every level of communication. You cannot get something "for free." You can get it free, or for nothing.

Another misuse that is like scraping fingernails across a blackboard to me is "loan/lend." Loan is the noun, lend is the verb. One cannot loan money.

Another: Preventive/preventative. Preventive is an adjective which modifies a noun, as in "preventive maintenance." Preventative is the noun, as "we do routine maintenance as a preventative.

Now, having been reared as a Southerner, I admit to using the following, but I did know better.

"He drug the dead animal to the side of the road." It's dragged, not drug.

"I snuck in the back door to avoid detection." It's sneaked, not snuck.

I don't fault folks for grammatical errors made out of ignorance. I fault their teachers in school.

But it does gall me when those who make their living from the written and spoken word make such errors.

And it shames me when I slip up and make the same mistakes myself. When I realize I have done so, I've snuck off in embarrassment.

 

Oh well, no one's perfect--except God of course. :laugh:

 

If someone is speaking and saying this, it does not bother me that much. But writing it would bother me, unless it was part of someone's dialogue in a work of fiction.

 

There ain't nobody that i wouldn't rather talk grammar with that you folks. :wavey:

 

I was in America for a few months recently. I noticed some peculiar speech patterns.

tomorrah
ekipment
baffroom
ruint
wonst
inneresting
innernet
innerview
innerduced
self-independent
a thousand of his closest friends
He lived in open incense

 

Crabtownboy: If you are going to start threads like this, you might want to change your signature. LOL

Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do. Ben Franklin

 

Pronunciations vary according to geography. People in the North say they have difficulty understanding us Southerners.

That last one you mentioned is what is known as a malapropism. It reminded me of a young friend who once said "I don't drink alcohol, but I do occasionally take a little wine for municipal purposes."

Malapropisms occur when one substitutes a word with a similar word which changes the meaning, often with comic effects, says Wickipedia.

Richard Sheridan's play, The Rivals, first staged in 1775, had a character named Mrs. Malaprop. She constantly twisted the language and that's where the name comes from.

One of the most famous purveyors of malapropism was Archie Bunker, the patriarch of All in the Family. Among his classics was a line "I ain't a man of carnival instincts like you."

Another one I heard was by a woman who was unable to have children. She complained "I guess I'm must be impregnable."
To which her friend replied, No, you mean unbearable."

 

It's like Yogi Berra's famous quote: "It's like deja vu all over again." We all understood what he was saying. Not as confusing as "When you come toa fork in the road, take it."

I don't mind people using English to their advantage or making people smile. I don't mind grammatical errors by many. What troubles me is when people know better and still abuse the language.

Cheers,

Jim

 

Norm Crosby was, and still is, the master of this. He'll be 83 pretty soon. Here's one by George W.Bush : "And there is distrust in Washington. I am surprised, frankly, at the amount of distrust that exists in this town. And I'm sorry it's the case, and I'll work hard to try to elevate it." Random ones (not by GWB) He's a wolf in cheap clothing. Michelangelo painted the Sixteenth Chapel.