[Closed] latest US butchery of English language

🙄 I could care less.

That's some undisenlightend use of language for sure.

Forsooth language's shall not change or evolve 🙄

You encourage some one and they become encouraged

You disencourage some one and they become discouraged

That's outwith the realms of reasonableness.

Enough already with the Lingua Yanka. These latest evolvements leave me dischanted and de-incentivised.

WorldClassAccident - Member

You encourage some one and they become encouraged

You disencourage some one and they become discouraged

No you don't. You discourage someone and they become discouraged. The "en" in Disencourage is superfluous and incorrect, IMO. A malapropism.

Disencourage is a most cromulent word

Did you hear that correctly, perhaps they mis-spoke

Nah he just misunderestimated them.

[i] WorldClassAccident - Member

You encourage some one and they become encouraged

You disencourage some one and they become discouraged

No you don't. You discourage someone and they become discouraged. The "en" in Disencourage is superfluous and incorrect, IMO. A malapropism. [/i]

Sorry for the troll bait 😉

Sorry for the troll bait

[img] [/img]

Shakespeare made up loads of words.

you should "reach out" to the American

Personally I'm shocked by the English butchery of Norman French.

"Parking" what the **** is that.......at least spell it "parcing" if you bastardize the French language.
Or should that be bâtardize ?

[i]the English butchery of Norman French.[/i]

Yep, he never recovered from that injury at Agincourt.

English language is morphing with yoof. The americanisms are one thing but what's starting to boil my piss is when you tell someone under the age of 20 something and they turn and say 'actual?'

no, you mean 'actually?'

As if "Fanny" wasn't bad enough mangling.

I have said this before and will say it again: any nation that routinely uses the word "semi-detached" to describe half a house, has no room to criticise others.

And I have a shoot on sight policy for people that have to say "actual" all the time as in "this is the actual house where I live". It is your house, not your actual house. If you had a virtual house along the road I would understand it, but I doubt that.

(and where I come from, a "semi" is something quite different)

And while I am on the subject, I was getting some stick at work yesterday for referring to the yearly safety inspection of a motor vehicle as the warrant of fitness check. An "MOT" (Ministry of Transport), is a building in Wales.

Glass houses, people of Britain, glass houses.

(and where I come from, a "semi" is something quite different)

Aye, and even worse, they have pictures of them in the windows of estate agents...

And while I am on the subject, I was getting some stick at work yesterday for referring to the yearly safety inspection of a motor vehicle as the warrant of fitness check. An "MOT" (Ministry of Transport), is a building in Wales.

An "MOT" (Ministry of Transport), is a building in Wales

It's not though, a Ministry is not a building. If you really want to be picky.

Ok it's an organisation that inhabits a building in Wales, fair cop. It certainly isn't what you get when you take your car in once a year.

I hope you are all using the original pronunciations of these:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/11/pronunciation-errors-english-language

Ok it's an organisation that inhabits a building in Wales, fair cop. It certainly isn't what you get when you take your car in once a year.

MOT is shorthand for MOT certificate - which is a certificate from the Ministry of Transport - makes perfect sense.

And I suspect the audience knew exactly what was meant by "disencourage", which is no excuse for such liberties. Which side are you arguing for ?

Personally, I'm disarguing for the unnecessary addition of syllables. 🙂

Most of you are being needlessly anal and jingoistic; however the OP's point is a good one regardless of dialect. If a word already has a perfectly good positive and negative form, putting a negative prefix on the positive is just stupid.

However, people do make mistakes all the time, so he may not actually think that's a word.

Disbenefits, anyone? 🙂

Burglarize always gets my goat. Because it's what a burglar does, see?

btw, for people banging on about correct use of words, there's some piss-poor use of punctuation in the above...

Disgruntled, no?

The has gotten beyond a joke.

However, people do make mistakes all the time

Oh because it's a mistake it's alright is it ? I suppose that if he runs over a child as long as it's "a mistake" it's ok ? Jeezus

I'm sorry nicko74, I meant "MOT'S" - at least that it what is says on a sign I pass on the way home from work. One day it will be dark and I will have a can of spray paint in the car, deliver some ghetto proofreading to their bottoms.

Oh because it's a mistake it's alright is it ?

There's a difference between deliberately inventing new words to try and sound clever, and accidentally mangling what comes out of your mouth.

Burglarize always gets my goat

Is now the right time to point out the so called malapropism above isn't one?

Thing is I don't think Americans do do it to sound clever - that's something that happens here and people here assume that Americans do it for the same reason. I just reckon that Americans are much more fluid in their use of language than we are (and they don't have a chip on their shoulder about the big nasty boy stealing their language).

they don't have a chip on their shoulder

Shouldn't that be french fry ?

And btw the English don't appear to have a problem with anyone "stealing their language", in fact I think you'll find that the general consensus is "why isn't everyone speaking it ?"

Freedom fry.

brassneck - Member
Is now the right time to point out the so called malapropism above isn't one

Which one?

Oh why not, even more so if you CBA backing it up.

Burglarize always gets my goat

Did you get it back in the end?

the English don't appear to have a problem with anyone "stealing their language"

We don't mind people using our language. We don't like people messing with it (aka stealing it)...

Freedom Fry is newspeak, not a language issue per se IMO...

Aren't quite a lot of 'Americanisms' actually older versions of the language than the versions we use? Eg 'ize' endings to words.

Pigface - Member

Forsooth languages shall not change or evolve.

Slow hand clap for the predictable stock response.

Change and evolution are not bad things.
Devolution is.

Ps. took the apostrophe out for you, makes it easier to understand, which, by Jove, is the very point of language! 🙂

Freedom Fry is newspeak

What's "newspeak" ? Spell check doesn't recognize it...... sounds like a made up word to me.

With a name like Travis Tygartt he should be entitled to come out with made-up shit like that. If he was called Rupert Carruthers he'd of course have to be put in the stocks.

Well, when I was studying in the US and was required to take an English elective, the (conveniently Anglophile) Professor said that English is changing quickest at its origin point (Britain), actually. Like.

What's "newspeak" ?

Ah, but that's a word made up by someone else [i]in a book[/i] so by using it they let everyone know they're clever.

Which is what I just did by pointing it out 😉

I thought 'Freedom Fries' came from the same place as 'cheese eating surrender monkeys'?

The Simpsons ?

Aren't quite a lot of 'Americanisms' actually older versions of the language than the versions we use? Eg 'ize' endings to words.

Generally. TBH, I;ve seen the use of -ize drop with the rise of PC usage. As spell checkers have defaulted to one or the other, British English has slipped almost completely into -ise.

I was at school in the 80s and 90s and -ize was still prevalent and is my default to this day.

For the hysterical up there, try reading Bill Bryson's book Mother Tongue. It might get you off your high horses....

they don't have a chip on their shoulder

It matters!