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English language - where is it going to? AIBU

(219 Posts)
TwinLolly Sat 21-Nov-20 10:33:46

Maybe I'm being unreasonable and very menopausal but there are words that are getting under my skin.

* "Co-worker" seems to be a new word for colleague.

* "Super" this and "super" that instead of "very" or "huge", etc.

* "Denied", e.g. as in "he/she was denied entry" - instead of "refused entry", or other cases where the world "refused" would make more sense than the word "denied".

* Where has the word "donated" gone to. It's now "gifted".

* I get confused when reading a newspaper or magazine article where people are now referred to by their surnames only without the Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms. I lose the plot as to who is who confused. I'd prefer to referred to as Mrs Surname or my first name.

There are other words too, but I can't think of them now.

Rant over. Sorry! blush

nanna8 Tue 04-May-21 10:57:11

We used to say, jokingly
‘Seeya, woulden wanna be yer’. Short for ‘see you later,’ which has always been an Aussie way of saying goodbye as long as I remember.
‘How ya goin?’ is still used for ‘How are you?’but I quite like that.

MerylStreep Tue 04-May-21 10:51:12

nanna8
dissing means disrespecting. Not dismissing.

Alishka Tue 04-May-21 10:44:31

The letter 't' in the middle of a word is fast disappearing - 'meeting' becomes 'mee-ing', 'greeting' is 'gree-ing', etc.
I recently wrote a speech for a colleague to deliver. I(carefully) wrote the 'requested" which he changed to 'arksed'.
Oh well,I tried.

Doodledog Tue 04-May-21 10:36:32

I’m not sure that there is a problem with lack of vocabulary so much as the fact that different generations use different vocabulary. We often hear older people objecting to new words, or new usage, when they are adding to the vocabulary of those who use them.

Language is not static, and IMO changes only really matter when meanings are blurred or ambiguous - everything else is really just a question of taste.

Lovetopaint037 Tue 04-May-21 10:06:31

Awesome is so overused it has lost its meaning. Lack of vocabulary seems to be the problem. However, what really annoys me is the habit that younger people have of talking at the back of their throats so it sounds almost as if they have a sore throat. Noticed this a few years ago when watching some American tv such as judge Judy! Then I started to hear it in the UK and I find it annoying. Seems to be an affectation of some kind.

Doodledog Tue 04-May-21 09:56:42

I agree that a lot of discussions like this is about fashion. There are a few old fashioned (but not traditional) usages that I find cringeworthy, such as 'why oh why'? 'Simples', 'peeps' and 'rant over' (sorry OP ? ). Words or phrases catch on for a while, usually because of popular culture, but then drop out as quickly as they came in, and when people cling to the dropped out ones it sounds like nails on a blackboard.

I've just remembered another one like that - 'No way, José', and I know I've said it before, but I will never get used to 'Uni'.

JackyB Tue 04-May-21 09:40:41

Bellanonna

Does the thread title need the “to” ?

Actually, it ought to say "The English Language - Whither goeth?"

wink

Redhead56 Tue 04-May-21 08:44:39

I am hearing thunk a lot lately what’s that about?
Also why do people start every sentence with So?
News reporters talking about yesterday evening what’s wrong with last night?

nanna8 Tue 04-May-21 08:33:06

Never heard that one, I have to admit. I have heard of dissing which I suppose means the same, presumably from dismissing.

Lin52 Tue 04-May-21 07:47:32

Ghosting, instead of ignoring, a pretentious phrase.

Nannarose Tue 13-Apr-21 10:49:43

The problem that I always have with threads like this is that actually, it's not really about what is correct, it's about personal taste, usually what someone grew up with and therfore thought 'correct'.
Someone dislikes 'gonna' instead of 'going to'; but 'gunna' is a dialect word from my childhood. Someone dislikes 'waiting on the bus' - again a term I have used all my life.
I don't much like 'youse' but it seems standard for Irish people to say it - that was where I first heard it.

I personally dislike Mothers' Day which in my mind is specifically American (and I think Australian) and my children know that I like the term Mothering Sunday as being traditional - but I said to them a few years ago - really, I'm lucky enough that you think of me and send a card, - I shouldn't be picky!

MaizieD Tue 13-Apr-21 10:45:24

I grit my teeth and bear the many, not altogether felicitous, changes to our language but when I buy a biography of a historical figure, written by a supposed historian, and learn the the 17th century subject of the biography is the ancestor of a mediaeval English monarch... I scream...

mercedez Tue 13-Apr-21 10:36:41

In shops the standard “goodbye” when you leave has been replaced with “see you later” as if they are a friend of mine. Can’t they say “goodbye” or even “have a nice day”?

M0nica Mon 12-Apr-21 15:37:17

I quite agree.

Doodledog Mon 12-Apr-21 13:27:12

I think it's only fair that nubbing cheats should fall into desuetude.

M0nica Mon 12-Apr-21 13:25:04

.... and desuetude - that will fall into desuetude, if it hasn't got there already.

M0nica Mon 12-Apr-21 13:23:57

OK! so whose for going back to speaking Anglo-Saxon?

Just look at this Wikipedia site on the hstory and diversity of our language en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_language_influences_in_English

Older people dating right back to those good old Anglo-Saxons have been whingeing about the language being debased by all those younger people with their foreign words, ungrammatic use of Anglo-Saxon, dialect words and slang.

English now exists in many forms. It has the widest vocabulary of any language and we have produced some of the world's greatest writing from Chaucer, Shakespear the King James bible and many other works just because our language is so varied subtle and constantly changing.

So hurrah for all the words and grammatical constructions we hate - and I do have some too - .Some will last, others, like 'welkin' beldam , behoof, esurient, malapert, nubbing cheat, will fall into desuetude.

Dottynan Mon 12-Apr-21 12:20:30

"He made a mistake but he owned it".

Trisha57 Mon 12-Apr-21 10:48:04

"Yous" as the plural for "you". Drives me mad when I hear it!

eazybee Wed 07-Apr-21 12:56:52

You guys, folks and The Gang.
Sounds like Dennis the Menace.

grandtanteJE65 Wed 07-Apr-21 12:07:08

I don't object to "co-worker". The expression that gets my goat is " work-colleague"!

After all, a colleague is someone you work with! If that has been lost or misunderstood, then roll on the use of co-worker.

Blossoming Wed 07-Apr-21 12:02:25

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sodapop Mon 30-Nov-20 08:35:09

Thank you Nanny27

Nanny27 Sun 29-Nov-20 23:01:21

Sodapop so sorry about your little dog. You must miss him terribly.?