I work with a lot of Americans which gives us plenty of scope for jolly language based japes. In corporate speak at the moment there is a vogue for requesting people to 'reach out to' someone i.e talk to them. To which my stock response is now "That won't be necessary, I'm not Helen Keller. I'll just phone them". There is also now terminal confusion over the use of 'lever' and 'leverage' as noun and verb. And I have seriously considered wiring my daughter up to the grid to administer a memorable shock on every inappropriate use of the word 'like'. Which would be at least 30 shocks a minute unless she learns quickly. My son, meanwhile, has a pronunciation problem, which is probably my fault. We moved to Leamington area when he was 4 and he has now developed the local way of saying 'I', which is a strangled 'oi' sound. We just laugh at him, poor lad.
There's a bad habit that's crept in, where "literally" is used for "virtually". "Harmison is virtually on fire" is fine. Exaggerated but fine. Keep the word "literal" for true and accurate descriptions based on fact.
Hah! Too busy burning to a crisp here on Menorca. Language may be changing through improper use, as it always has done, but we should not confuse evolution and improvement, as they are not necessarily the same thing. How we use our great language says much about how we are changing as people. The beautiful, beautiful language of our forebears is sadly consigned to academic study and curiosity. We have become a dumbed-down texting people and I h8 it!
I can live with the mis-use of the word literally. What I find drives me apoplectic with rage is the increasingly frequent unnecessary use of the word LIKE by teenagers and adults too. It annoys me beyond rationality. More annoying even than people during interviews punctuating their diatribe with the phrase "you know".
Just seen SB's post. I am not alone ! Do not get me started on Americans. They are too thick to even begin to understand the effect of a double negative. I have spent too long trying to explain to my moron brother in law what the phrase "I didn't do nothing" actually means.
I have met numerous Yanks that claim to have traced their ancestors back to the Pilgrim Fathers and the Mayflower. One of them was called Schmidtheiner.
Not for the official press release (or for my jobs list at work) though. Any government agency issuing to the public should be using standard english not a regionalised version. The residents of a country will include foreign nationals who are living there remember. I've resorted to taking their poor English literally and then when asked about something saying that they said it was already done. (so long as it's not something that will mean I've screwed up a job)
