Have we entered some post apocalyptic age where the rules of semantics and
syntax have been forgotten ? Did they drop The Big One when some of us
weren't looking ?The first seems to be a universal error, the second is definitely starting
to have common usage within the UK, the rest seem to be holding out as purely
American linguistic errors and I am grateful that I have not heard them used
that often in conversation within the UK. Thank Jesus H Christ for that !
Out of interest; can anyone tell me where
the phrase Jesus H Christ originated ?
To a greater or lesser extent
Most cars produce polluting exhaust fumes to a greater or lesser extent. Yes,
that's totally true, some produce very little, some produce a lot.
So why bother adding this clause ? What's wrong with, "Most cars produce
exhaust fumes, some more than others" ?
This greater or lesser extent is so ambiguous that it usually renders
the statement that it's attached to meaningless to a greater or lesser extent.
I got my exams
This is a travesty compounded even further when one hears, "I've got my
English Language exam", and is even worse than, "I lent this off my friend".
No one gets exams; one takes exams and if they pass they
receive a scrap of paper indicating that they passed the examinations and
can consider themselves qualified in the subjects that they were examined
upon.
Repeat after me; "I have passed my exam".
I'll do it momentarily
I have no idea how this semantic error has arisen. Suffice to say that
the American language appears to be considerably more flexible than
aluminum.Momentarily means for a short time period. But what the aforementioned
phrase appears to means is, "I'll do it as soon as I can", or, "I'll do it
immediately".
So how did momentarily ever become interpreted as shortly,
soon or immediately ?
It's doable
No, no, no it isn't. Things can be done; things aren't doable.
And even if they were; is it doable or do-able ? You don't
know ? Perhaps that's because it isn't a real word.
I've gotten it
No you haven't. You haven't gotten it at all.You have simply got it.
Have you got that ?
And please don't tell me that, "American English has gotten more advanced
over the years", it clearly hasn't. I would really hate to have to tell you
what American English has become.
There be stones and there be glass houses
The danger of criticising other's use of language is that they are, quid
pro quo, granted a right to criticise mine.
Hopefully most of the errors on these web pages will be typo's ( or
typographical errors if you will ) that haven't been corrected yet; I do wish
my MS-DOS based text editor had a spelling checker. I also hope that these will
be obvious and treated as errors of transcription, and nothing more, rather
than as errors arising from ignorance.
The biggest criticism could well be the use of abbreviations such as
haven't, couldn't and that's along with others; there
are an awful lot of them on my pages.
My retort to criticisms on those grounds is that these are all acceptable
abbreviations and are used, deliberately, to provide a style of communication
to the reader that, I believe, is friendly, colloquial and not overly stuffy.
That's the way I want to write and that's the way I'll do it. It's my choice.
At least I'm maintaining grammatical correctness.
That's my defence, however, if you do spot some cataclysmic cock-up; please
let me know and I'll certainly take
your views into account when I next dive into my text editor and start bashing
away on the keyboard.
