it turned out good / well

"I'm proud to be a pedant."

"A pedant is someone who prefers his statements to be true."-Bertrand Russell.

I was called a pedant last week. It was definitely meant as an insult. I am sad the person felt pedantry to be a negative option. I'm proud to be a pedant.

MamaCaz good point.

..and furthermore i think this why texting is so unsatisfactory. There is no sublety and it can lead to misinterpretation.

We only have such problems because English is such a rich language with a huge vocabularly. If you don't like the sound of something there is always another way to write it. I dont think many other languages have such choice. Of course this also makes it a difficult language to master.

As a Corrie fan, I am honestly amazed that Roy has never corrected any of his customers on the "Can I get a tea / coffee?" request. I still keep expecting him to reply with something along the lines of, "No, you can't get a tea. This isn't a self-service cafe. Just take a seat and I'll bring one over to you".

Good point, feetle. Reminds me of a friend of mine who was one of the editors of the New Oxford Dictionary of English (fondly known as Noddy) who said that it was a descriptive dictionary, not a prescriptive one.

ana, indeed yes about asking for a coffee and one does what you suggest oneself of course, but ine is tolerant of other versions too.The baristas don't seem to mind. Last time I was in Costa in Glasgow and asked for some tea I was asked in a broad accent if I was "se''in' en?" Took me a second or two to understand what she meant, which was "Are you sitting in to have your tea?" I enjoyed hearing the local version. It's still 'proper' English

Back to "good" - there was a saying "the boy done good" which really grated on me. Was it someone on TV? Probably.
But is that better or worse than "Didn't he do well !"

Grammar describes the mechanisms of a language. Should it also be allowed to prescribe?

Or should I say 'I shall' as we were taught at school.

I do know many natives who naturally say 'I were tired' or 'was you there'- or 'I was stood standing there'- and so on. And it certainly does not make me grumpy- I love dialects, accents and regionalisms- but 'I'm good' in the uk, grates because it is 'merican. But I'll survive, I will.

thatbags- 'I'm good' for 'I'm well'- is a very recent addition to the English language in the UK- and one of the many americanisms which creep in via TV and celebrities. I am not grumpy about it- but as this is a thread about poor use of language...it is just not gramatically correct- be it for natives, or non natives. Very rarely used among those of our generation, from what I can gather from friends and relatives (who are all natives- with the grass skirts and all that ;) )

And make more sense.

So would 'Could I have a coffee, please?'. And it would be more polite.

Does the job though, that Can I get a coffee, thing, dunnit? Gets one a coffee.

'Can I get a coffee' is always going to grate with me, it doesn't matter how language evolves! It's just silly.

I still stick to that rule trisher. Was drummed into me. (can/may)

If language is about communicating then "The cake turned out well," although grammatically correct is confusing, as it could refer either to the finished cake or to the action of taking the cake out of the baking tin. "The cake turned out good" is just lazy and needs "to be" before good. But language does change so probably it is acceptable. Gone are the days when people scrutinize every word. I remember being pulled up as a child for using the word "can" instead of "may" and when I asked"Can I go to the toilet?' or some other request being told- "You are physically able to do this, but the question you are asking is have you permission to do it and that needs"May". How times change!

Teetime "so fun" really grates with me too, it just doesn't sound right.
I do believe that language evolves constantly though, so I'll suck it up!

The thing is, if "I'm good" is what native speakers of English say, then it is correct. That's what people say. It's the idiom now whether people like it or not and it's what people who are learning English will hear so they'll say it too. Pedantry all very well when meaning may be compromised but in instances like this it's just grumpiness.

Teaching English here to the locals- it can take a while to explain the difference between 'good' and 'well'. Mind you, it shouldn't really, as it is the same principle in French.

And then we pick up their school book and a conversation in the USA:

How are you Jonny?

I'm good, thanks!

GRRRRRRRR

In "The cake turned out to be good" good applies to the noun "cake" - it describes the finished cake. A noun takes an adjective - so it is good.

In "The cake turned out well" well applies to the verb "turned out" - it describes the way the cake developed. A verb takes an adverb - so it is well.

But these days good is used all over the place instead of well, so objecting is like farting in the wind.

My old and much revered English teacher told us that even though some words and phrases may be grammatically correct if they don't read and flow well then there are better words to use so I would say 'the cake turned out well'. I prefer the phrase ' it was a large room' to ' it was a big room', just as an example - sounds better on my ear.

However what I cannot abide is 'that was so fun'. Aaargh!!!

I don't think grammar has gone down the pan. Good writers still write with good grammar. The spoken language doesn't need to be so strict.

Actually, I'll stick with us