Wasn't there years ago a series on BBC where the wife had 'Bucket' as last name and who consistently introduced herself as 'Mrs Bouquet'?
Can't remember the name.
Edit: Keeping Up Appearences. Her name was Hyacint Bucket.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyacinth_Bucket
Jan
We had a customer, the boss rang him up and said "is that Mr Rivet?" - he preferred a more French "posh" prenuncition
Hyacinth. Played by the excellent Patricia Routledge.
It's quintessentially British.
Lovely to see “quintessential” getting an airing. Not a word I hear often. I can’t imagine my daughter or her friends using it despite their intelligence and education.
Yes, I will doff my cap forthwth.
My most enthusiastic contrafibularities for pointing out my gaff.
I must of missed it. My gaff's in Nottingham. Which obviously I can't pronounce, without a mouth full of hot peas.
A thread about bad English, from an American. There are too many words to choose from.
A thread about bad English, from an American. There are too many words to choose from.
You're still discussing what is proper english?
I just had a long phonecall with a firend from Sheffield UK, and what he used is far from proper (standard) english, it's full of deviation based on local old dialects, but also words and experssion that have caribien or african origin, based on the creole (mix of english and african) languages that were introduced to the UK street language by immigrants. English exist in a lot of variations, of which some are centuries old and the formal UK standard variation of it is only one of them and today there are influences from everywhere in English.
The same is happing and happened in the past all over Europe in any language. And it's also from all times. Most modern European languages are also born out of a mix of older languages, especially English that is largely Low and Nordic Germanic from origin, but with very strong Celtic and Latin influences.
In France, very few also speak clean standard french. I work in northern france (region of Lens) where the language is called Chti. It's probally only the top management of that company that speaks more or less standard french, the rest speaks the local Chti variation of it. They also immediatly hear that i'm a Belgian because i speak Bruxellois (the Brussels dialect of French), as that is where i learned french and the differences are quiet big.
Just like my mothertongue, West-Flemish is quiet different than standard Dutch (where it is officially a dialect from). Most Dutch speaking people don't understand a lot from my mothertongue actually and most people who speak Westflemish as mothertongue see it as a seperate language, close related to Dutch and Frissian (a low germanic language spoken in the upper north of the Netherlands and bordering parts of Germany), but not the same.
I just had a long phonecall with a firend from Sheffield UK, and what he used is far from proper (standard) english, it's full of deviation based on local old dialects, but also words and experssion that have caribien or african origin, based on the creole (mix of english and african) languages that were introduced to the UK street language by immigrants. English exist in a lot of variations, of which some are centuries old and the formal UK standard variation of it is only one of them and today there are influences from everywhere in English.
The same is happing and happened in the past all over Europe in any language. And it's also from all times. Most modern European languages are also born out of a mix of older languages, especially English that is largely Low and Nordic Germanic from origin, but with very strong Celtic and Latin influences.
In France, very few also speak clean standard french. I work in northern france (region of Lens) where the language is called Chti. It's probally only the top management of that company that speaks more or less standard french, the rest speaks the local Chti variation of it. They also immediatly hear that i'm a Belgian because i speak Bruxellois (the Brussels dialect of French), as that is where i learned french and the differences are quiet big.
Just like my mothertongue, West-Flemish is quiet different than standard Dutch (where it is officially a dialect from). Most Dutch speaking people don't understand a lot from my mothertongue actually and most people who speak Westflemish as mothertongue see it as a seperate language, close related to Dutch and Frissian (a low germanic language spoken in the upper north of the Netherlands and bordering parts of Germany), but not the same.
Same in portuguese. People, in general, are loosing the ability of using the relative pronoums, such as who, whom, whose, which etc.
They are using the generic equivalent to "that", which is "que" for every situation, and it sounds horrible..
But really, it is one thing that those whose first language isn't English have trouble with translating, writing or speaking. I find it unsettling to hear or read poorly written posts, news articles and more from those who should know better. Grammar, spelling, speaking, all in the attempt to communicate, are being shredded by the technology that we praise. Even in this post, I am not sure that I got it all correct.
Awkward sub-clauses in the second sentence, but otherwise fine. But your point about intelligibility to those whose first langauge is not English is important. Although the assiduous writer can find the exact word in English that describes exactly what they want, it may not be familiar to everyone, and there's a danger of sounding like Will Self.
(Will Self is a university lecturer and journalist having a fantastic vocabulary. Unfortunately, he does not want you to forget it.)
(Will Self is a university lecturer and journalist having a fantastic vocabulary. Unfortunately, he does not want you to forget it.)
I have no problem with the occasional typo; I'm a non-native English speaker and I'm sure I make lots of errors that kindly are disregarded.
What I find more irritating is when people cannot express themselves in a way that is intelligible for the reader. That is a separate issue from language and a hindrance to communication.
Probably an education issue.
Jan
What I find more irritating is when people cannot express themselves in a way that is intelligible for the reader. That is a separate issue from language and a hindrance to communication.
Probably an education issue.
Jan
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No, not education; an unwillingness later on to improve. Few are born with an ability to communicate intelligibility; it's a skill that has to be honed, taking time and effort.