• Home
    • Recent
    • Calendar
    • Register
    • Login
    Iron Heart Forum
    Iron Heart Forum

    Iron Heart Fall/Winter 2025 Collection Preview - Now Live

    Nuances and Idiosyncrasies of the English Language

    General Chat
    36
    148
    11.4k
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • MattM
      Matt
      見習いボス
      Joined:

      My favorite teacher will always be my 12 grade AP English teacher. He was one of those teachers that stays with you.

      last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • Danimal506D
        Danimal506
        Haraki san Expert
        Joined:

        I live in Texas and we have the city of Houston, pronounced “Hews-ton”
        In New York City they have a “Houston Street”, pronounced “House-ton”.

        I don’t know why

        New England’s also tend to say “standing on line” vs “standing in line”.

        Kyle, TX

        last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • todyT
          tody
          啓蒙家
          @mclaincausey
          Joined:

          @mclaincausey one of the things i, as a non native speaker, don‘t get. how can you get this wrong?

          last edited by Tago MagoT mclaincauseyM 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • Tago MagoT
            Tago Mago
            Mod Squad
            @tody
            Joined:

            @tody Have you seen some people write in German?

            last edited by Tago Mago 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • mclaincauseyM
              mclaincausey
              見習いボス
              @tody
              Joined:

              @tody I think perhaps being a native speaker you fall prey to phonetics, and “would’ve” sounds somewhat like a lazy “would of.”

              That and a lot of Americans are really, really dumb, so it never occurs to them that “would of” doesn’t make any kind of sense. You’re taking about people who forced the language to have the word “literally “ indicate its polar opposite, which rendered the word meaningless but unfortunately fell short of creating a species-ending rift in the space time continuum.

              Another common one is “I could care less.” Oh? How much less could you care? (The turn of phrase is supposed to be “I couldn’t care less”).

              Think it, be it.

              last edited by mclaincausey GilesG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • pechelmanP
                pechelman
                啓蒙家
                Joined:

                Irregardless of people being really dumb, for all intensive purposes, they just don't care.

                And yes, I'm using the above sentence to share two other words/phrases that make me cringe when I hear them.

                In some respects, I'm fine with the lexicon evolving, even if it breaks rules that were once considered standard like not breaking infinitives or ending phrases with prepositions; both of which seem to be fully accepted practice today.

                last edited by pechelman 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • GilesG
                  Giles
                  IHUK Crew
                  @mclaincausey
                  Joined:

                  @mclaincausey said in Nuances and Idiosyncrasies of the English Language:

                  I couldn’t care less

                  Which is all we know in UK

                  "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

                  last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • MattM
                    Matt
                    見習いボス
                    Joined:

                    I could not care less than how much I currently care.

                    A little clunky I guess but grammatically sound.

                    last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • popvultureP
                      popvulture
                      見習いボス
                      Joined:

                      I feel like the Oxford Comma argument is just extremely frustrating, because in my head at least, both options have ways of making sense. I'd actually argue that the inclusion of the comma feels less conversational, adding a sort of unnecessary pause that could feel almost theatrical. That said, using it when writing ultimately just came to make sense to me.

                      Writing conversationally is a big thing, though — I do that a lot and see no problem with it. I think you can be that way and also be a stickler for grammar in other situations. It's just preference.

                      "Should of" is just unforgivable in my eyes, like I take a person down several intelligence rungs in my mind if I see them write it. I also had a coworker that said "makes since" instead of "sense" and man... I get irritable just thinking about it.

                      Had an ex who said "I feel badly" constantly and I was so happy to say goodbye to that (and other things) when our relationship ended.

                      "Between you and I" UGH.

                      The obscure one that makes me nuts is "chomping at the bit." Sounds weird, but it's "champing."

                      WTB
                      IHSH-IHG-BLK XXL
                      Sugar Cane Coke Stripe SS L charcoal

                      last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                      • mclaincauseyM
                        mclaincausey
                        見習いボス
                        Joined:

                        Like I said above, that third comma is spoken as a pause when you’re listing more than two items. Try to not pause before the last list item in that scenario: “I have pen and pencil ready” (no pause) versus “I have pen, pencil, and eraser ready” (pauses at each comma). I really should have made that the primary argument because it’s even more sound than the syntactic arguments; my background in computer science and studying linguistics in that as well as English academic contexts kind of weighted my arguments towards logic and syntax where really it’s as simple as mirroring the spoken word correctly.

                        Think it, be it.

                        last edited by mclaincausey 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • MattM
                          Matt
                          見習いボス
                          Joined:

                          All these thing make me cringe (particularly improper usage of I and me) but I’ll be damned if I’m going to actively preach the gospel by correcting people. Except my kids for whom I’m responsible and my wife just so I can piss her off.

                          last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 4
                          • popvultureP
                            popvulture
                            見習いボス
                            Joined:

                            Oh yeah I don't correct people — my dad screwed me up enough doing that shit to me. Luckily I've come to know better than to make other people feel responsible for my own neuroses.

                            Note: I edited this post enough to be like "hm probably should schedule a therapy appointment" 😆

                            WTB
                            IHSH-IHG-BLK XXL
                            Sugar Cane Coke Stripe SS L charcoal

                            last edited by popvulture 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                            • Tago MagoT
                              Tago Mago
                              Mod Squad
                              Joined:

                              Solution: add Weird Al to the curriculum:

                              last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                              • mclaincauseyM
                                mclaincausey
                                見習いボス
                                Joined:

                                My mom corrected me ceaselessly. I’m at least grateful that I have good posture and a healthy back from the prohibition of slouching, but yeah, someone else is welcome to have my neuroses 🤣

                                There are even trivia like saying “lay down!” to the dog that bug me, though I dare not correct my wife when she says it. I just always say “lie down!” and hope she notices one day 🤣

                                Think it, be it.

                                last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                • MattM
                                  Matt
                                  見習いボス
                                  Joined:

                                  Keep hoping.

                                  last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                                  • mclaincauseyM
                                    mclaincausey
                                    見習いボス
                                    Joined:

                                    The only practical thing to do would be to let go…

                                    …but if that were possible it wouldn’t be a neurosis.

                                    Think it, be it.

                                    last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 4
                                    • EdHE
                                      EdH
                                      Iron Heart Deity
                                      Joined:

                                      comma.png

                                      @Matt @popvulture @mclaincausey

                                      Take the dive...

                                      last edited by popvultureP 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • popvultureP
                                        popvulture
                                        見習いボス
                                        @EdH
                                        Joined:

                                        @EdH Well that changes things for me 😂

                                        WTB
                                        IHSH-IHG-BLK XXL
                                        Sugar Cane Coke Stripe SS L charcoal

                                        last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                        • mclaincauseyM
                                          mclaincausey
                                          見習いボス
                                          Joined:

                                          I’d say, that he just, shits out commas, with the rest of his verbal, diarrhea and isn’t, doing it with, intent

                                          Think it, be it.

                                          last edited by SKTS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                          • SKTS
                                            SKT
                                            見習いボス
                                            @mclaincausey
                                            Joined:

                                            @mclaincausey YOU FORGOT, ALL CAPS

                                            last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • First post
                                              Last post
                                            Copyright Iron Heart 2025.