wordable peevz

[ceagle]

Another LJ member just posted about grammar, and it was quite a thought-provoking thread! So I thought I'd mention a couple here...

We all get a bit relaxed in blogs, and entries are understandably conversational... so this is in reference mainly to public speech.

Do you have some peeves... things that just grind on you when people misspeak them over and over? Probably... heh! ...and right now two of mine are
1) NUKULAR (when it's SO EASY for people to say nuclear right, as in "NEW CLEAR"!)... and
2) when people use the article before H incorrectly (saying jibberish sentences such as "An house is not an home" or "An historic moment is an happening to remember")... eeeeesh! Even paid TV announcers! It makes the skin crawl... *shiver* ;P

The H modifier depends on the way the H is used by the vowel that comes after it! It's not "an" every time!! ;P

Correct usage is thus, "It is an honor to embrace a happiness beyond words" ... or "Don't make a hasty decision when an homage is due"... or "A humble apology is a heroic gesture"... and so forth...

If the H is silent, the article defers to the vowel.. if it's not (like in "hubris" and "heaven") the article reflects its consonant quality! arf! ;D

...I hope you enjoyed this little venture into the kooky-linguistics arena :D .

Comments

[stokerbramwell.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU regarding the H modifier. It bothers me, but at the same time, it's becoming so widespread that it's starting to sound right, and in a way, that bothers me more.

[swandog.livejournal.com]

Agreed! The most disturbing thing about improper grammar usage is when it becomes so common that it starts to sound correct. :P (Now granted, I will use Netspeak at times myself, but very rarely will I ever do so in RL conversation, and using slang abbreviations--like "RL"--doesn't mean you have to use improper grammar as well.)

Also, it seems that the use of "whom" has pretty much flown the coop these days...I rarely hear anyone say it anymore, properly or otherwise.

[orv.livejournal.com]

English seems to like to simplify pronoun rules, over time. We've discarded whole rafts of them in the past (thee, thou, thy) and I think "whom" is next on the chopping block.

[stokerbramwell.livejournal.com]

It's true. English is a living language, after all, and as much as my inner pedant likes to fight against that, it means that the rules can change.

[gilmorelion.livejournal.com]

"Kookie" linguistics??? Like wow, daddy-o!

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

There are slight variants due to accents and vocal patterns, but my own pet annoyance is when someone says "haech" to pronounce "H" although I wonder if it comes from the upperclass pronunciation of words when you put an H in front of words that don't have one and removing it from those that do. However noone in Australia really has a different pronunciation based on social class.

From a Tony Hancock comedy
"The name is 'Ancock, the Haech is silent and henybody that says hotherwise his hignorant"

Hehe :)

[androgynism.livejournal.com]

I have a thing for Your/You're and there/they're.
Just annoys me when people can't use the right one.

[henriekeg.livejournal.com]

Ai, I do have troubles with that N sometimes. Mostly I just guess what it's supposed to be, if it looks/sounds weird without one then I'll add it. But if people don't correct my grammatical errors, I'll never learn it!
The English word I hate the most of all, is defenitely definitely. Definetely.
I hate it how people here mess up the language constantly. I even often see grammar errors in official articles and books.
Ik worD
Jij worDT
Hij worDT
Wij worDEN
Jullie worDEN
Zij worDEN
Ik werD
Jij werD
Hij werD
Wij werDEN
Jullie werDEN
Zij werDEN
Ik ben GEworDEN

Het is MIJN fiets
JOUW fiets
ZIJN fiets
HAAR fiets
ONZE fiets
HUN fiets, de fiets is van HEN (they're doing this wrong so often, they want to make it official Dutch)

Ik leer, jij leert, wij leren, ik leerde, jullie leerden, ik heb geleerD
Ik steel, jij steelt, wij stelen, ik stal, jullie stalen, ik heb gestolen
DE fiets, DE boom, DE pad, HET pad, HET paard, DE koe, HET boek
Een klein hondJE, fietsJE, boomPJE, kettingKJE, koeTJE, voetJE, duinTJE

Etc etc. We have a weird language X) Compared to most languages I know, English is the easiest if you ask me.

[expandranon.livejournal.com]

I didn't see the 'H' thing come up nearly as much in my youth. I think it's our exposure to British broadcasting that's done it. They make H's silent all the time, and will almost always use 'an' before certain words. 'historic' comes to mind.

[mrinitialman.livejournal.com]

I thought something like "an hundred" was actually archaic usage.

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

heyyyyyyyy.. yer other comment vanished!

[mrinitialman.livejournal.com]

Yes, I discovered it was factually erroneous (i.e. I didn't do the research) so I deleted that comment.

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

ah... *nod*
That's for peekin' in though!