Lost for words...

[promhandicam]

From the Oxford Dictionaries Website:

The Second Edition of the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary contains full entries for 171,476 words in current use, and 47,156 obsolete words.

With over 170,000 words to choose from why is it that so many people use so few and even then they still get the meaning wrong. Insure / Ensure / Assure springs to mind. Interestingly, before reading this thread, I wrote an email to a customer and used the word obviate as I couldn't think of a better word to sum up what I wanted to say. Knowing them, I know they won't have to google it to find out the meaning but for many people I would hazard a guess that it is a word that ironically they think is unnecessary. :wink:

 

[treeturner123]

I'm with Eric on the use of 'Like'. I had to endure a 2 hour train journey to London opposite 2 students (American girls) who chatted the whole way there using said word at least twice in every (what passed for a) sentence. By the time I had finished working on my laptop and was ready to change to a place where I could not hear them (the quiet coach), we had reached Reading and as anyone knows who uses that line in the mornining, there were no spare seats!

I keep Lyn Truss (or at least her book) by my bed and get regularly laughed at by 3 daughters, though they do speak reasonably well.

My current hate though is 'Twitter'. I heard Sean Lock on the radio this evening saying exactly what I feel. Birds twitter or tweet, people are just verbally incontinent. The word he used was 'B**l*xing. Quite right, that is all it is. I really do NOT want to know what some 'famous for 15 mins' person is doing every minute of the day. GET A LIFE THERE!!!!

Another rant over for the moment

Phil

 

[Benchwayze]

Today on BBC.

Haitch instead of aitch.

Unsurmountable instead of insurmountable! :twisted:

 

[Anonymous]

From the Oxford Dictionaries Website:

The Second Edition of the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary contains full entries for 171,476 words in current use, and 47,156 obsolete words.

Where the bloody hell are they when I am playing Scrabble?!

 

[Benchwayze]

Phil,

'Eats, Shoots and Leaves.' I must get that book. (Methinks) I might, like, enjoy it, y'know? :mrgreen:
I could talk about Sean Lock, but I fear it might hijack the thread!

What about 'All that glisters is not gold'. That's my 'favourite' misquote.

Regards
John

 

[Lons]

My current hate though is 'Twitter'. I heard Sean Lock on the radio this evening saying exactly what I feel. Birds twitter or tweet, people are just verbally incontinent. The word he used was 'B**l*xing. Quite right, that is all it is. I really do NOT want to know what some 'famous for 15 mins' person is doing every minute of the day. GET A LIFE THERE!!!!l

=D> =D> =D>

Makes me cringe and facebook is even worse :roll:

 

[studders]

What about 'All that glisters is not gold'. That's my 'favourite' misquote.

Regards
John

Or... 'There's a Time and Place for Everything'

 

[bugbear]

Innit?

"innit" appears to be indistinguishable in use from the old upper class (and Minnesotan, googling leads me to believe) "don't you know".

BugBear

 

[Benchwayze]

I heard an educated lady Doctor use the word 'innit' yesterday, although she said 'Isn't it?' But she tagged it on the end of 'We will have to wait and see, "isn't it?"Which sounded ridiculous. Although she probably is bi-lingual, which I am not, so I'll forgive her!

So I believe 'innit' is a lazy way of saying 'Is it not', which, when placed at the end of a sentence is redundancy, is it not? :mrgreen:

John

 

[RogerM]

Yo Bruv! Ya know what I mean? Wicked!

 

[woodbloke]

Yo Bruv! Ya know what I mean? Wicked!

...init, like :lol:, or should it be 'like, init' - Rob

 

[DOOGYREV]

A word I have always used, and still suprises me how many people dont know the meaning of, even people in the trade is - Skeiling
http://www.defineonline.com/Definition. ... d=skeiling
Has anyone else encountered this or any like it?

Doogy

 

[Eric The Viking]

All languages must evolve, or we would still be using words like 'prithee', and 'methinks' on a regular basis.

Do you mean you don't, like,

prithee?

E.

 

[Benchwayze]

Not what I meant Eric.

I just tried to point out that there are old-fashioned words we no longer use quite so much, due to the evolution of the language.


E.g:

Methinks - I think
Prithee - please.
We don't use the word pray in that context, quite so much either. As in, 'Pray, pass the salt.'

 

[Lons]

A word I have always used, and still suprises me how many people dont know the meaning of, even people in the trade is - Skeiling
http://www.defineonline.com/Definition. ... d=skeiling
Has anyone else encountered this or any like it?

Doogy

I'm in the trade and didn't know that :? but your link does suggest it is local to sussex - that's a hell of a long way from Northumberland - don't have "skeilings here - just tin roofs :wink:

Bob

 

[DOOGYREV]

I hadnt realised it was localised, I thought I had better find a definition before I posted it. Here is a better link
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/skeiling
Perhaps this is a fine example of a new word that is already on its way to being in common use, it would appear that it has alredy spread from Sussex to Somerset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Dorset, Hampshire and Surrey, the Isle of Wight and the Channel Islands (Guernsey and Jersey).

 

[Lons]

Perhaps this is a fine example of a new word that is already on its way to being in common use, it would appear that it has alredy spread from Sussex to Somerset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Dorset, Hampshire and Surrey, the Isle of Wight and the Channel Islands (Guernsey and Jersey).

:shock: I'm not having that :shock:

Invasion of words from you "southerners" :lol: here's one back at you:

"spuggie" ( geordie word for sparrow ). People who use it also sometimes call a sparrowhawk a "spuggiehawk"........ Not me though - Aa was better brung up than that an lorned tae speak proper england like
Strange language we have :?

Bob

 

[Benchwayze]

What about 'All that glisters is not gold'. That's my 'favourite' misquote.

Regards
John

Or... 'There's a Time and Place for Everything'

Well, at the moment, very little is in its place in my workshop, quote or misquote! :mrgreen:

John

 

[studders]

Maybe I'm wrong. Perhaps, out there in Spaceland, there is such a thing. :duno:
Meanwhile, back here on Earthland, my Workshop/Storage is finally starting to resemble something approaching organised....
Only taken me 25+ years too.

 

[Chataigner]

I have really enjoyed reading these posts. Some nice points and a lot of wit (that's another word we hear infrequently).

For me, the purpose of correct grammer etc. is to communicate unambiguously. I find it sad that my daughter, who has a masters (master's?) degree by the way, uses 'brought' as the past tense of 'to buy'.

...and another thing, what happened to the subjunctive? Because it is used extensively in french, I find myself trying to explain it to english people here who are trying to master french. None of them seem to know what it is.