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Post by Catrin on Jan 27, 2009 16:26:38 GMT 1
I have been described as a complimentary therapist - I wondered if instead of giving a healing attunement, I was just expected to say, "Wow don't you look great!"
The thing that puzzles me is paninis. Why? We have paparazzi, not paparazzis and one is refered to as a paparazzo, so why don't we have one panino and several panini. Who decided to put the s on panini, when it was already plural. I can't bring myself to ask for a panini just to avoid the odd looks if I say "a panino please."
I suppose I must accept the pedant label, as I have never been to an opera. Perhaps all my linguistic irritations originate with my latin teacher. Who, incidentally told me it was perfectly acceptable to use a preposition to end a sentence with - as long as I did it in english, not in latin.
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KateD
Grand Prix Poster
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Post by KateD on Jan 27, 2009 16:42:13 GMT 1
It is, strictly speaking, 'Panino' Catrin, with the plural being Panini. I daren't, however, ask for one for fear of being laughed at (or punched for being pretentious!) !!!!!
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Post by Dragonmaster on Jan 27, 2009 17:49:04 GMT 1
People saying 'Badmington' Horse Trials with a 'g' in it... It makes my toes curl. Maybe they come from 'Burmingum' As a fully paid up member of the Grammar Police, ex English Teacher and daughter of an English Teacher I am loving this thread. It is so gratifying to see that there are others like me out there! Have you all read 'Eats Shoots and Leaves' by Lynn Truss?
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Post by Dragonmaster on Jan 27, 2009 17:52:28 GMT 1
Oh - and the man who owns my fields calls it a Manenge!
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Post by Catrin on Jan 27, 2009 18:11:52 GMT 1
It is, strictly speaking, 'Panino' Catrin, with the plural being Panini. I daren't, however, ask for one for fear of being laughed at (or punched for being pretentious!) !!!!! Do what I do: ask and duck
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Post by Catrin on Jan 27, 2009 18:15:45 GMT 1
Oh - and the man who owns my fields calls it a Manenge! Blimey, they were originally wooden posts, then we got the stone henge. Is he a serial killer? Have you all read 'Eats Shoots and Leaves' by Lynn Truss? No, but I can lend you My Grammar and I (or should that be 'Me'?) if you want to swap.
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emi
Grand Prix Poster
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Post by emi on Jan 27, 2009 19:05:27 GMT 1
Wow, never realised it was actually manège, strange how we swopped the vowels around! If I started calling it a manège tho I don't think anyone would know what I meant!!
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Post by Emma R on Jan 27, 2009 21:34:07 GMT 1
Correct grammar hasn't died out completely but it certainly isn't very well. I had to wait until I got to Uni to learn some of the things I should have been taught in Primary School and goodness knows how much I haven't been taught The best one has to be "I aren't" though - I hadn't heard that one until we moved to near Stoke-On-Trent, even people studying English at Degree level (Literature not Language but still...) used to say that one
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Post by DebbieR on Jan 28, 2009 9:50:28 GMT 1
OK then, I'll confess to shouting at the TV when some newsreader who should know better says "Different to" ;D I also get raised blood pressure over incorrect use of there, their & they're AND to & too, while apostrophes can make a red mist appear in front of my eyes! Just the original grumpy old woman I guess! The best one though, was just after we moved up to Cheshire from the South some years ago. While we were coming to terms with the fact that sandwiches were now butties, plimsolls were pumps and pushchairs were trolleys, my sister had an English lesson at primary school. The teacher wrote up on the board "We was going out to the shops"; one small boy put his hand up and said "Can't see nowt wrong with that Miss"!
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Post by wally on Jan 28, 2009 11:25:12 GMT 1
or Duggley ? That's not far from Burmingum.
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Post by LuckyRed on Jan 28, 2009 12:05:07 GMT 1
Well spotted - the 'georgeous' is a bit of an 'in joke' - a little like saying hostipal / hospital or picture-skew / picturesque - maybe I should change it back to the correct spelling!
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Post by jennyb on Jan 28, 2009 12:25:49 GMT 1
Speaking of Badmington, it drives me mad when people type Burleigh instead of Burghley. I have to sit on my hands to stop myself typing a corrective post!
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Post by Catrin on Jan 28, 2009 12:28:08 GMT 1
... The teacher wrote up on the board "We was going out to the shops"; one small boy put his hand up and said "Can't see nowt wrong with that Miss"! The sad thing about that is, that public language, these days is not separated enough in schools from spoken language. I hope Dragonmaster will correct me and say it isn't that bad, but over 30+ years of being a teacher I find children, generally, in english are taught less and less grammar and their mistakes corrected inconsistently. I was shocked a few years back, when a forty plus, geography teacher doing reports said, "I can never remember how to spell practice. Is it a c or an s?" It wasn't that his spelling shocked me, it was his failure to understand my explanation. "It's easy," I said, "they are in alphabetical order for noun and verb, when it's a noun, you put c and when it's a verb you put s." "Same for advice and advise," I added. He then said, "Yes, but what's a noun and what's a verb, we were never taught grammar in english at school." This makes grown ups feel foolish when they don't know and the the job of the modern languages teacher harder and harder. Although I tried to retire from teaching altogether this year, last Friday, the local school said "Please do the afternoon" and I said "Yes." I had to stand in for the Head of Foreign Languages. She had set the year 11 class a translation entitled Il Futura Che Verrà (illustrated by the picture that hangs over the table at Hartsop Farm with all those work men sitting on an RSJ miles above the buildings.) To translate the first three words was easy for all the class The Future That … but they couldn't see that the next word was a verb as they didn't recognise the word itself. There were some intelligent guesses: "It could be like glass, the french word for glass is verre." They didn't recognise the verb because it wasn't an obvious one and didn't understand basic terminology like 'infinitive' or 'participle,' so leading them to a solution, I found, was quite hard. I taught in international schools for ten years and up to 90% of my class would be none english first language. In the UN school in Vienna, there were over 70 different 'first languages,' yet they all had learned their first language grammar and knew the same words in english. These english and welsh first language 16 year olds had no clue about conditional or subjunctive, which every 16 year old none UK student I have taught understands, though they could manage 'future tense.' I'm afraid Il Futura Che Verrà for many UK children will be poorer linguistically, if their mistakes are not corrected and some formal grammar introduced while they are young. It used to be that we could rely on the BBC and the broadsheet newspapers, but even they let us down so often these days too. 'Issues' when there is nothing to 'discuss,' and 'different to' are the most common mistakes that indicate their steady decline. Communication is about getting your meaning across and to me, that is impeded if you use the wrong word - or am I just a Grumpy Gran, as Katie Gormley calls me. modified to correct the spelling mistakes
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Post by Dragonmaster on Jan 28, 2009 12:42:51 GMT 1
The rot set in many years ago I'm afraid. I learned basic grammar in primary school but got most of the more complicated stuff (infinitives & participles etc) from learning French grammar at High School. Being lingustically minded I could extrapolate one from the other. That was back in the early 60's. I suppose in a way we shouldn't be too critical. My daughter is dyslexic and struggles with stuff like this and spelling. I know my mind is wired up to be good with words.... numbers on the other hand... even basic maths can get me really confused!
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Post by marianne on Jan 28, 2009 12:45:23 GMT 1
90% of my class would be none english first language. ......... welsh first langauage Catrin, I think you're so focused on grammar your spelling's gone out the window HOW many years did you say you taught? !!!!!
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