Expressions Which Annoy!

[Scarlett]

[quote user="Dick Smith"]And I didn't log on after a large meal last night. Speaking of which, has anyone near Vire eaten at Au Vrai Normand? Had lunch there and it was very good but a bit pricey. And they have a website!

[/quote]

Nice exterior, even a nice interior but our experience was that the food was overpriced, luke warm c***.  Sorry!

[Miki]

"...............luke warm c***"

Scarlett, never eaten that, is it any good when eaten hot though ?

[Scarlett]

Well it wouldn't be my first choice Miki and I wouldn't expect to see it on a Menu of more than say 12€ but it's certainly better hot than luke warm - but then isn't everything, including S** [;-)]

[Thibault]

KatyKK asked why we probably wouldn't be eating beef or mutton if Harold had won the battle of Senlac..

It's all to do with the nouns we use in English.  Cows and sheep because the Saxons tended to be the farmers and beef and mutton because the Norman French tended to be the one's who ate the best bits. 

 

[Just Katie]

Sorry Rosie I am missing something.  So what would we be eating?  Cows and sheep ah yes I get it because we would have remained Saxon with no French influence yes?

[Viv]

Boeuf  became beef and mouton became mutton.

If you ate the animals as the Normans did, then you used the French names, that eventually became anglicized.

Those that looked after the animals (the anglo saxons) called them by their anglo saxon names, cows, cattle and sheep.

[Dick Smith]

Actually, Gay, his name was Eadgar, ætheling means 'young prince'.

Not just cows and sheep, of course, also household objects like tables (from Latin via Norman French, replacing 'bord' as in Bed and Board, which is what B&B was originally). I'm sure there are lots of others, I just can't think of them at the moment. Another language feature which told later on was the lack of Norman nannies in England, so the children of the conquerors had English childminders, who spoke Old English to them, meaning that the English Comeback was much easier. Was it Edward III who was the first king after Harold II to speak English as his first language?

[Dick Smith]

Which side was using MAC's ?

The winning side, of course...

[Russethouse]

>>>Actually, Gay, his name was Eadgar, ætheling means 'young prince'<<<

Well, that can be my 'fact for the day' Thanks, Dick [:)] ....

 

[Just Katie]

How interesting, I often wondered how cows and sheep became beef and mutton when they reached the table.  Now I know [:)]

Also from the time of the Normans came the rude two finger gesture and the archers involved were Welsh. (so say my Welsh friends)

 

 

[SaligoBay]

KKK, it happens throughout la langue anglaise.

You have the everyday Germanic-based words (like kidney) and the Latin- or Greek-based medical words (like renal or nephritic).

You have the posh Latin-based "copulate" and the Germanic-based f ***

In fact it's all a big chiz.

[Gardian]

Dick Smith - are you at Wal ? (WCGS in my day).

[Tresco]

[quote user="Ian Horn"]Dick Smith - are you at Wal ? (WCGS in my day).[/quote]

See; there's the (annoying) Acronym Thing again. [:)]

[nimportequoi]

KKK, it was the Welsh long bow archers from the Hundred Years War provoking the French, the Plantagenets (Edward III) not the Normans.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

[quote user="WJT"]

Thinking about it, perhaps that saying could win a few votes on the annoying list. [:)] 

[/quote]

Now that is rather a good point. I can appreciate that using acronyms

that are not widely understood could be deeply annoying and I shall

cease doing so forthwith. I do try to be consistant.

[WJT]

No not your acronym, I was actually referring to my statement "a new one on me" of which I would commonly use but because of the thread it made me think about what it actually meant. But I do have to agree that I do find acronyms that I don't understand annoying mainly because it makes me feel like Mother. I remember as a kid having to explain things to her and now I need someone to spell things out for me, makes me feel old and out of it I guess.  Oh well, at least I have learned a new one [:)]

[Dick Smith]

Not now, Ian, but I was (as a kid and as a governor)

[Just Katie]

[quote user="SusanAH"]KKK, it was the Welsh long bow archers from the Hundred Years War provoking the French, the Plantagenets (Edward III) not the Normans.[/quote]

 

Errrrr......yes...ummmm could be. 

[Dick Smith]

A lot of them were English...

They were fighting on the side of the Plantagenets, who had been Normans, against the King of France, who had been naughty. Allegedly.

[Just Katie]

WELL I DON'T KNOW ... I never went to history.  She was a nasty teacher.

[Dick Smith]

Yes, well.

At the time of Henry V the French king (Charles VI) thought that he was made of glass, which made campaigning a bit difficult. Originally he was known as Charles the Well-Beloved, but later this changed to Charles the Mad. Obviously.  As a box of frogs. He was related to Henry VI (equally odd).

[Richard-R]

[quote user="Dick Smith"]I'm all in favour of language change. Your example of making a noun out of a verb was a great favourite of Shakespeare's, and makes good sense, and 'invitation' smacks of a false Latinate expression of the 18th century.

My bête noir is people who use odd phrases from foreign languages to make themselves look well-educated. Oh, and, uh, people who like, umm, hesitate all the time.

[/quote]

That's very funny Dick, when one thinks that a large part of the English 'lingo' is French and most of new words that come in Englsih are for overseas. Done my best not to include any words that are not real English. :-)

[Beryl]

' very random' etc my grandson in the UK says it all the time and I have no idea what he means.[8-)]

The habit that some young people of have of making a statement but raising their tone at the end as though it is a question.

I can remember  a very grumpy old woman (me) cheering when Rory McGrath on 'Grumpy old men' talked about this and how he blames Australian soaps, it is so irritating! [:@]

[Thibault]

Talking about Charles (as mad as a box of frogs, as Dick put it) - he had an interesting wife (Isabeau of Bavaria) who, according to one school of thought, was the mother of daughter by her brother-in-law, the Duke of Orleans.  The little girl was called the Maid of Orleans and grew up to be better known as Joan of Arc!  [;-)]

[Missy]

It is not expressions which annoy me most but pronunciation!..

When did the word ACCEPT  become EXCEPT when it is uttered in a sentence ... Does it annoy me? You bet!... Not long ago, at work, we had a letter from our HR officer advising us to 'except' (so written!!) this particular new contract on offer... The meaning of the sentence she wrote was in our favour so we were in our full rights to 'except' (cast out/refuse etc... anything in that line of thinking) this contract rather than to 'ACCEPT' which is REALLY what the letter was about and what our bosses wanted us to do!... Well, I signed and highlighted the word and other spelling mistakes I noticed in the letter ... Bosses and HR officer came back to me all sheepish, with profuse apologies!... WITH a corrected contract!...

Many of my colleagues, must be regional thing but very annoying as these people have to speak daily on the phone to other people outside the company. Their expression is 'I should OF ...' as in 'I should HAVE done this or that!'  or 'would you OF done that or that' as in 'Would you HAVE done...' I have even found it written in their Emails to me.... When I correct them I enter into terrible arguments over speaking clearly and properly!...

Another bug!  When was an R introduce in the expression 'law abiding' or 'drawing'. So many time I hear 'lawRRRRabiding'  same for drawing and I hear drawRRRRRing!!   GGGRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!

And English is NOT my maternal language !...