Tha' is amaayzing!!

[nomoss]

Maybe one becomes more critical with age.

Or is it more despairing?

[mint]

Or simply preparing to give up the ghost?

[idun]

[quote user="nomoss"]

Jeez.

Wish I had a pound for every time I've heard that on British TV.

[/quote]

And I wish I had a penny for everytime I have heard 'ouais' in France.

People talk badly and use 'expressions', they just do. I bet I do, but probably don't notice.

My pet hates are and this one is eternal that it is DRAW' ING, and not draw'RING......

And young people saying 'like' all the time and not in the way that old folks say it........ eg 'it was 'like'.... and then a description.

[Hoddy]

The one that is driving me mad at the moment is the use of 'the' when it should be pronounced 'thee'.

Yesterday I heard a newsreader say 'the NHS' when he should have said 'thee NHS'. It is becoming widespread.

[Alan Zoff]

Has someone already mentioned "brought" instead of "bought" or "of" - as a verb - instead of "have"?

Facebook selling pages are a real eye-opener if you want to see how people can murder the English language. "I would of brought that but I was broke."

[nomoss]

I just gave up on trying to follow the debate in the Commons.

Partly because some members seem only to speak in order to try and persuade their constituents that there was some point in electing them, but also because of the abysmal lack of knowledge some members have of (what is supposed to be in some cases) their own language.

A particular dislike is the replacing of the word "OUR" with "ARE", which TM is fond of booming out.

[mint]

Alas, nomoss, TM is limited in more than just her vocabulary[6]

Talking about TV commons debates, I don't usually watch them because the tedium would kill me.  BUT, I have been listening intently the last couple of days.  To my great surprise, the Speaker has actually an excellent command of words and uses them to great effect.  I love the way he can dish out the insults in that very English understated way (and, to be fair, he can take the flack as well!)

Also, the Scottish MPs can be so articulate and make their speeches really count....and this is from someone who usually has trouble understanding the Scottish accent[:)]

[Cendrillon]

"Needs gone" is an expression I see again and again on Facebook selling pages. However it seems that for many posting items for sale, English is not their first language.

[YCCMB]

Hahaha! Cendrillon, am still recovering from the ad for a bookshelf on one local site. Clearly the writer wasn't using their first language, for they were endeavouring to sell a "b I t ch wood bookcase" ??

[Cendrillon]

YCCMB

some of of those wanted / buying / selling ads are hilarious!

[nomoss]

[quote user="Cendrillon"]YCCMB

some of of those wanted / buying / selling ads are hilarious![/quote]

Speaking of small ads, I was told a story about one in the Births Marriages and Deaths section of a local newspaper in Colonial India.

"To the Rev. and Mrs. Brown, on July 19th. A beautiful baby girl, Emma Louise. One insertion only."

[YCCMB]

??

[NickP]

Plus the wonderful old Jewish obituaries notice gag.

Lionel passed away peacefully yesterday at home in Golders Green, Volvo estate for sale.

[YCCMB]

??

[Gardian]

The one that really gets me is any sort of reference to “Working People” - I heard a government minister use that term only today.

It was in the context of an interview about Universal Credits and was clearly meant to refer to the lower paid in society, but as a term seems to be applied to what might once have been referred to as ‘blue collar’ employees.

It just grates with me. My professional life was, for the most part, in some kind of managerial admin role, but I think (I certainly hope) that I never saw any other employees as anything other than ‘workers’ like me. We were all workers, just fulfilling different roles.

This has all been rather clumsily expressed, but I trust you get my drift.

[nomoss]

But you must agree that when a government minister

uses the term, they refer to others than themselves.

Natch.

[YCCMB]

Gardian..even worse is the general trend towards "ordinary people". I hate it. Who, pray, are the "extraordinary people"? How does anyone know if they're ordinary or not? Or, more pertinently, who isn't an ordinary person?

[nomoss]

[quote user=" YCCMB"]Gardian..even worse is the general trend towards "ordinary people". I hate it. Who, pray, are the "extraordinary people"? How does anyone know if they're ordinary or not? Or, more pertinently, who isn't an ordinary person?[/quote]

It's difficult to say. It's almost impossible to distinguish them from "members of the public".

[richard51]

An extraordinary person!

[nomoss]

On the subject of articulate speech, what really amazes me is the propensity for MP's to begin their speeches with "So", or "Like", and sprinkle them every few words with "Y'know" or "I'mean".

Some of their efforts are so disjointed that I find it very difficult to sort out what they are trying to say.

[idun]

And french politicians are just as bad with their 'hein's' and 'errr's'...... and the waffle.

I knew I had got to grips with french when I heard a  very well respected french journalist, Yves Mourousi on the news.

I listened and he spoke for a full 10 minutes and as my OH's french was far better than mine at that point....... I said..........

'have I just been listening to 'him' and he has said 'nothing' just waffled for TEN FULL MINUTES!'.

OH smiled and said 'c'est ca'.

And that really was a point in my life when I realised that my french was doing well.

Few speak clearly and properly.

The best french speakers, articulate and no waffle, just ordinary people I have heard in the last few months were people interviewed in Nouvelle Caledonie before the independence election. Pleasure to listen to.