"must have" "at all" and "yeh - no"

glamma

I am definitely turning into Grumpy Old Woman - the way some people pronounce 'vowel' on Countdown irritates me!

What is the current rage with raising the voice at the end of the sentence?
Also, have had to stop watching Escape to the Country, after so many prospective purchasers announced "that view is to die for" What????
"Hi guys" - can't even bring myself to write any more on that one!
"Are you all right there" - grrh!!

We have recently been treating ourselves to Sunday lunch - lovely meal, nice place, v good value - but when it is delivered, and it is announced "enjoy", it almost takes my appetite away - ALMOST, I said!!

I think the rising inflection came about because young people were watching Australian soaps.

Does text language infuriate anyone? My sister who is 53 and sounds like she is a 15 year old from London when you read her texts, in fact sometimes I have to send back and ask what was that it must take longer to type in the rubbish than to write in English.

Yes glass but it does provide lots of amusement. My daughter was horrified when one of her students submitted an essay that was peppered with text-speak. She read some of it to me and I laughed like a drain (she did give the student chance to re-write it).

Matt Lucas made me laugh a couple of weeks ago, when talking about the inappropriateness of text-speak, and pretended to read out a text - 'soz yr dad ded wen iz funal?'

If I see one more ad shouting SPRING INTO SUMMER! I shall scream. This exhortation has been used for over 40 years and probably longer (DH was in advertising, so he should know). Surely copywriters can come up with something more original to link spring to summer. Or should they leave it to cleverer gransnetters?

Have to say I remember Yeah - yeah and Yeah - no (with rising inflection) in North Wales forty years ago. I think it was one of the first things that DS said from his pushchair. He now teaches advanced English in Spain and is also completely fluent in spoken and written Spanish so it can't have done much harm!

Why have people started saying "See you later" instead of "Goodbye" ? it doesn't make any sense at all if you don't know each other and are very unlikely ever to meet again! And "going forward" - what does that mean?

Heaven only knows? Leave it all behind you and go forward! Whatever other direction does one go in? Circles?
I'm getting myself confused!

'Speak to you later' has caused confusion in my family. An American colleague telephoned and ended the call with 'Speak to you later'. I couldn't think for the life of me why he would want to speak to me again that day ]. Then my DS rang his Grandma once upon a time and ended the call with 'Speak to you later' and the poor woman thought he was coming round that day and got the tea things all ready .

As my mum would have said "Good manners cost nothing" .

Not in a good mood today, no sleep + too much ironing = aaggghhhh
I will go and have a word with myself and come back in a better mood

Local village school PTFA advertising a family Bingo night - "All children must be a complied by an adult" (????) Completely spoiled Gracie's bedtime walkie as I stomped home in disgust.

I agree JessM I hear those expressions all the time! Yeahno its a way of life innit, a must have. Have you other guys not heard them at all? Where have you been innit? Right I'm off to clean my property which when I first saw it, ticked all the boxes. See you later!

What about anyfink, nuffink, etc, etc?

I'm annoyed about 'no problem'. When I say 'thank you' in a shop or restuarant I frequently get this response and I want to say 'why did you think there was one'!

PIN number - Personal Identification Number number - why? My bank prints this in its literature.

CD's, WC's etc. Why does no one seem to know what an apostrphe is for?

Think I'll stop there as it just makes me a cross patch.

I've spent most of the day teaching English to people from other countries. I do hope you all feel suitably sorry for me - and even sorrier for them!

There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins were not invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies, while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write, but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce, and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So,one moose, 2 meese? One index, two indices? Is cheese the plural of choose? If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? In what language do people recite at a play, and play at a recital? Ship by truck, and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? Park on driveways and drive on parkways? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell another? When a house burns up, it burns down. You fill in a form by filling it out, and an alarm clock goes off by going on. When the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why,when I wind up my watch, I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I end it…

Flippin 'eck Ga, my head's spinning now!

[applause] grannyactivitist

ga

GA, having taught ESOL myself, I recognise the paradoxes you mention, but all in one paragraph! I feel the need to lie down and rest up.

Trucks, French fries, driveways, candies and eggplants? Surely you mean lorries, chips, drives, sweets and aubergines?
I still like explaining "time flies like an arrow" and "fruit flies like a banana" to language learners.
Got tied into knots the other day trying to explain "in my mind's eye" to my French neighbour. Any ideas Grans with French as MT?

What about the glottal stop or glo''al stop? Listen to Ed Milliband if you can bear to. He misses ts all over the place as did Tony Blair some of the time. Does this prove that they're men of the people? I think not.

Just to take one example from your supply, ga: goose is 'English' from Old English; moose is Algonquian.

I think the same thing (differences in the language of origin of the word) may apply to quite a lot of the paradoxes of the "English" language.

I think I may have mentioned my abhorrence of the use of 'grab', as in expressions such as 'I'll just go and grab a shower' or 'going to grab some lunch'. It encapsulates the spirit of the grasping age we live in and anyway makes absolutely no sense.