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Daggers

What grinds my gears...

By Daggers, in General Chat

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mabrah

mabrah

Posted
Posted (edited)
30 minutes ago, Voll Blau said:

On a similar subject, this might of interest to anyone wanting to discuss linguistics...

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo

 

So, yeh. I, like, like. Though interpretation of it does rely on a knowledge of the ambiguity of the word 'buffalo' and appropriate use of punctuation, as the 'translated version illustrates....

 

Quote

Buffalo bison, that other Buffalo bison bully, also bully Buffalo bison

 

I'm reminded of the grammatical sentence with 6 consecutive usages of 'and'.

 

And of so-called 'garden path' sentences like 'The horse raced past the barn fell' or 'The complex houses married and single soldiers and their families' Both grammatically perfect but a bugger to comprehend.  

 

 

Edited by mabrah
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Milo

Milo

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, HighPeakFox said:

I thought the idea of this section was to express ourselves, rather than tell others off and introduce absurd comments about the French. 

 

Yes language evolves, but I don't find much to celebrate in (forgive the word) ignorance of language, because that's fundamental to how we communicate. If that breaks down, so does good communication. 

Why is the comment about the French absurd?
 

And I wasn’t telling anyone off, just expressing a view 🤷‍♂️ 

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mabrah

mabrah

Posted
Posted

A reference to the Académie Française perhaps?  They're a body that kind of protects the French language, decide what's (officially) acceptable - for example, deciding which anglicisms to allow, or keep out, which to adapt etc. It's obviously a losing battle in so far as colloquial/street French is concerned (as it would be with any language) but nonetheless they are the official authority on the French language. Other countries have similar such bodies.

 

 

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String fellow

String fellow

Posted
Posted

With reference to repeated usage of 'buffalo' and 'and', 'had' goes further. Imagine two students who wrote about someone suffering from a cold in the past. John wrote 'the man had a cold'. James wrote 'the man had had a cold'. Their teacher had preferred James's answer. This scenario can be summarised thus:-
James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on their teacher.
This makes sense if some punctuation is added:- 
James (while John had had 'had'), had had 'had had' - 'had had' had had a better effect on their teacher.

11 hads in a row and, btw, it wasn't Jihadi John!

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Milo

Milo

Posted
Posted
38 minutes ago, HighPeakFox said:

I apologise in that case for ignorance on my part @Milo. 

No need at all. 
 

I’m glad that we don’t have a similar ‘authority’ on language use - I like seeing the evolution of it - is it really a big deal if an apostrophe is in the wrong place or a supermarket has a ‘10 items or less’ instead of ‘fewer’ sign?
Surely people understanding the meaning is what matters. 

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HighPeakFox

HighPeakFox

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, Milo said:

No need at all. 
 

I’m glad that we don’t have a similar ‘authority’ on language use - I like seeing the evolution of it - is it really a big deal if an apostrophe is in the wrong place or a supermarket has a ‘10 items or less’ instead of ‘fewer’ sign?
Surely people understanding the meaning is what matters. 

I agree on that last point in essence, yes. 

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FoxesDeb

FoxesDeb

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Milo said:

No need at all. 
 

I’m glad that we don’t have a similar ‘authority’ on language use - I like seeing the evolution of it - is it really a big deal if an apostrophe is in the wrong place or a supermarket has a ‘10 items or less’ instead of ‘fewer’ sign?
Surely people understanding the meaning is what matters. 

Yes it is absolutely matters! It grinds my gears daily. But then maybe it just says more about me.. 😊 

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Milo

Milo

Posted
Posted
39 minutes ago, FoxesDeb said:

I hate the evolution of language where it is wrong. Can I get is one of my personal pet hates 

But what is right or wrong? 🤷‍♂️ 
 

Surely It’s only really through the prism of the current generation, decade or century, even, that people judge whether something is ‘correct’ English? 

 

Beowulf is impenetrable now, but was correct at the time - a couple of centuries later Shakespeare (no, not our one) was doing his thing in ‘correct’ English...but is pretty hard to read now. 
 

The English my kids are learning in school now will be obsolete and irrelevant in 50, 60, a hundred years. 

 

Language has to evolve, to service the need of each new generation. 


 

 

(And anything that winds up the apostrophe police and language pedants, is just fine by me)! 

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Strokes

Strokes

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, DennisNedry said:

Why do old people go shopping on a Saturday?

 

Winds me up no end when they clog up the supermarket aisles... yeah cheers Doris you couldn't do this on a Tuesday morning? 

Probably routine, they’ve spent a lifetime working weekdays and shopping on a Saturday.

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Izzy

Izzy

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, matty98 said:

People thinking they own the street parking where they live.

I couldn't park right outside my house as there was no space so parked just round the corner (about 10 steps from my front door) and someone who lives on the street had a go at me lol

My wife is terrible for this.

 

She goes fvckin mental if someone parks outside our house and she makes a point of staring them out in disgust when they return to their car.

 

Embarrassing.

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Izzy

Izzy

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Dr The Singh said:

I know it.....she always tells me how much satisfied she is being with me :devil:

You're welcome to keep banging her mate. I really cba at the moment.

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fuchsntf

fuchsntf

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, Milo said:

Do we have an authority? We’re not French, ffs. 
 

Honestly, I love the way that our language evolves. I have never understood why grammar is so important and why people get upset with perceived poor grammar or made up words - it’ll all be different in a generation or so anyway, so why fret? 

 

 

Hahaa,I have at least One groupie....

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