(slightly OT) My latest internet pet hate

Why‫ Why‫ ;

I got my 'too' and 'to' mixed up!

lol!

Also a hyphen-minus surrounded by spaces is acceptable as a dash—isn't it?

quotes this, in case he tries to edit it again

That isn't what I typed in. Indeed, that isn't exactly how it appears on mine.

I typed in:

"Why& # 8 2 3 5 ; [without the spaces] Why& # 8 2 3 5 ; [without the spaces]";

it formatted it:

"WhyWhy";

when I editted it, the carat cursor was totally unruley, and I had no control. I re-entered the interrobang codes, and I got back an invisible glyph. Also I couldn't delete the semi-colon, whilst trying, for some reason.

The questionmark that you have entered doesn't appear on my computer.

Nope, he's down the pub. He certinally looks drunk.

Desperation setting in, now, methinks.

How does the old saying go?

A bad workman always blames his tools.

Not even i am that deluded.

I'm kidding, well no i'm not. Your spelling and grammar would be pretty good if you only edited your posts.

My excuse for poor grammar is that i never paid enough attention in my English classes at school. I was **** at 'social' studies

Take heart that your English isn't as bad as a lot of broadcasters, and even newscasters, in this country. My pet hates at moment (some of which I mentioned earlier):

> Disinterested does not mean mean 'not interested in' or bored of/with something-- that's un interested. Disinterested means impartial or neutral. You could end up with libel on your hands misusing this word

>Enormity is nothing do with the word enormous. It means the wickedness or depravity of something/someone. ITV News is good at abusing this one. Again, an easy one for libel lawyers with a dictionary!

> Fulsome is negative word, contrary to popular opinion. Fulsome praise is insincere praise, not complimentary praise!!

> Naseous is an Americanism, and a grossly inaccurate one-- the correct word is naseated. As Bill Bryson will tell you: "A naseated person is no more naseous, than a poisoned is poisonous"! One for soap writers to take heed of.

> Schedule is pronounced 'shedule' in the UK not 'skedule'.

> Harass should rhyme with 'embarass' in the UK-- "hu-RASS" is actually American! Broadcasters in this country will be pronouncing anti as "ant-eye" before we know it.

I know the last two are trivial, but the UK isn't the 51st state of the USA (not yet anyway )

Right, I ought to take my anorak off and get on with some work now

If we're gonna start debating "Americanisms", I have to say that I use a fair mixture of "British English" and "American English" by choice.

For example, I prefer "elevator" to "lift" for the following reason:

It's called an Elevator because it elevates you (the fact that it can descend as well as ascend, is a whole can of worms best saved for another discussion)

Therefore surely "lift" is what it DOES, so the noun should actually be "Lifter"? (e.g. "I'm going to go to the 8th floor, in the lifter") Of course, nobody in their right mind is actually gonna say that, BUT I still object to it being "a lift" because I personally think that that's contextually b*ll*cks. Therefore, using the American "Elevator" is the only realistic way of me satisfying what I think is logical.

Also, coming as I do from Warwickshire (which I think is probably one of the most absolutely central counties of ENGLAND (if not THE most central)), I think that "my kind of English" ("Warwickshire English" if you will) is the most "universal" (i.e. not TOO "southern/Queen's English-y" or "northern" etc), but is one of the most even-handed mixtures of the best of all variants.

I despise with a passion the "Queen's English" way of pronoucing words like Bath and Grass - I pronounce them with a short sharp "a", rather than an "a" that sounds like it's got an imaginary "r" after it.

Seeing as "Queen's English" is surely spoken, say, no further north than Hertfordshire, and no further west than Hampshire (or whatever), it is effectively a "REGIONAL accent" (I call it "South East English")???

Although in POPULATION terms, more Brits speak "Queen's" than those who don't, GEOGRAPHICALLY they're a "minority".

I like the fact that it seems to be the case that the further north you are in England, the more "literal" the pronunciation (e.g. Yorkshire etc pronoucing Book and Look to rhyme with the "oo" in "Spoon" - which makes a damn sight more sense! "Northern English" is, in this respect, the most "logical" IMHO. (If it's got an "oo" in it, why the flip should it be pronouced "buck"???)

However, although my PRINCIPLES agree with a "Yorkshire" Look or Book, it would sound unbecoming without the appropriate accent to accompany it, so I do indeed say "luck" and "buck".

These are just a few examples, but they illustrate how my speaking habits are where "northern" and "southern" meet, and I'm even broad-minded enough to encompass Americanisms, Australianism etc etc.

Too many English-speakers are too insular re: not tolerationg anything beyond their individual version. The "Queen's" speakers are the absolute worst, for having an intolerent attitude towards the rest of us.

I'm really really proud of "MY" version of English.

Hehehe... I like those last 2 posts. Even if there was a lot of words and some bloomin' long complicated ones in there, like Americanisms Americanisms don't really bother me as that Mellie from the Telly says, some actually make more sense than the proper English words. Anyhoo enuff of that. ( did ya see that i spelt as i speak)

So long as i can pretty much understand what someone is trying to say. Grammar and spelling isn't that important to me. Internet forums i definately will forgive for being poor on such matters, Newspapers can also be forgiven. I get a little bit annoyed when i buy a book and see it littered with spelling and punctuation errors. The publishers employ proof readers and they're paid to pick up on simple errors.

Any accent North of Watford i have trouble understanding. Sometimes i feel really rude as i have to keep asking a scouser, scot or Geordie to repeat their sentence. I have family ooop Norf. It's great until we get a few drinks inside us. They're all Dook ( duck) Moog ( mug) and i have quite a strong Thames Estuary accent.

Now why is it i can distinguish an Manc accent from a Geordie accent? I can even tell the difference between an Australian and New zealand accent. * smug look * Yet Scots and Mancs immediately think i am from London. I'm offended i sound way more common than those city riff raff

You don't want to sound like somebody from London... I think it's all that rancid air that makes them talk funny in the capital

I just hate people who deliberately employ Americanisms to sound trendy. Be proud of the British accents, you tw*ts! I also hate AQI, Australian Question Intonation. When you raise the tone of your voice at the end of sentence so it sounds like a question? It gets very irritating? Please don't do it? Because it's very f**king irritating?

I can see the argument with lift/ elevator, but lift is easier to say! Just as long as you don't say vacation instead of holiday, otherwise I may have to hurt you

I don't know anyone in Yorks who pronounces book 'bewk'?! That's definitely a NW England (especially Lancs/ Merseyside) and Scotland thing.

You can blame the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings for the north-south pronunciation differences. For many years way back when, the Vikings ruled northern England; they called it Danelaw, and if you draw a line between Shrewsbury and London, it gives you a rough idea where boundary is. Anglo- Saxons occupied southern England.

Vikings spoke Norse, which was related to Anglo-Saxon but was pronounced differently. In Norse 'å' sound in English is pronounced exactly the same as northern English 'oe' sound. In modern Norwegian words 'båt' (boat) and 'gå' (go), are pronounced exactly as they are in northern English 'boat' and 'go'. If that makes sense. That is also why in northern England the 'ay' sound (as in cake) is pronounced 'air', because of that Norse influence. Norwegians find the Geordie accent far easy to understand than any other English accent

Received Pronunciation (or Queen's English) orginates from the Anglo-Saxons in the south-east, so technically it is a regional accent. They are responsible for 'glarse' instead of glass etc. The A-S orginate from modern day Germany. The modern German for glass is 'Glas'... pronounced 'glarse' in German! Norwegians are sensible and pronounce it with a 'a' as in 'cat' I believe :

This divide is responsible for the difference in the way 'u' is pronounced acorss England. In southern England 'put' sounds like 'pat', whereas in northern England 'put' and 'putt' sound the same.

Norwegian is more precisely pronounced than German incidentally (think Trudue Mostu or whatever her name was!), so that's why northern English sounds more precisely pronounced.

Estuary English is really a halfway house between Received Pronunciation and traditional accents of Kent, Essex etc. According to linguists, Estaury is used by people trying to disguise their class or regional accent. It is also used by Paul Merton, and Tony Blair when he is trying to get down with the kids

Well we blame the Germans for everything don't we If you are really interested in all this, read Bill Bryson's Mother Tongue . It's Magnus Magnusson's favourite book (well that's what he said on Countdown anyway). It is very readable though.

BTW isn't Moog a type of synthesiser?

yes Moog is a type of synthesiser

But there is another type of Moog
http://wtw.tarka.org/moog.html

It's very hard teaching young children to spell because we have words with the same spelling / different sounds (good and food) and same sounds / different spelling (food and rude).

Oh dear! Poor old Mr Moog must be turning in his grave at the thought of that cartoon character. Is it pronounced the same as Moog synthesiser (rhymes with Vogue)?