The English and their English...

[BoundedCascade]

Actually I enjoy seeing all of the text and IM lingo. It is the evolution of language. Some might call it de-evolution and they could be right but at the same time it is still a process in which the language is changing. The meaning of words are changing quite rapidly nowadays with the phenomena of the internet. I am glad to be around now to see how it changes.

Granted it can be very annoying when a person cannot properly speak the language, that is something I do find to be rather stupid if not down right offensive. However, at the same time the spoken language is also evolving and is taking interesting turns as well. A lot of it does come down to mispronunciation and ignorance of the meaning of words. I think it would be very interesting to see if we could still communicate with people 300 years from now if they still speak English. It would be drastically different language such as Old English is to modern English.

 

[Gelsons Dad]

I´m surprised how people who can only speak one language can be so terrible at it. I don´t even know if I should laugh or cry.

I work in an Irish pub and this girl asked me: "You aren´t Irish now are you." (as if it wasn´t obvious enough from my accent). I replied with: "No but my mate Matt here is dead Irish. He is completely incomprehensible and drinks like fish". Guess what she said... "What does incomprehensible mean?" How on earth do you not know what incomprehensible means!?!?!?!

Another time a girl asked me what disillusioned meant and that I should stop using such complicated words...

Then there is the spelling. Half the people on this forum don´t even know the difference between there, they´re and their. Someone just spelled yesterday yesturday. The U and E keys are nowhere near each other! My girlfriend works for a real estate company and the amount of spelling mistakes in the emails and faxes sent by Brits is not even funny. Some can´t even spell mortage correctly let alone words that are more complicated. How can you write like that when you are trying to do business?


Anyway this came off as a rant so ill give this thread a focus.

What do you think is happening to the English language? Is it important that it´s spelled and spoken correctly or not? Has it always been this bad? Why is this happening and is there anything that can be done to improve the situation?

Oh and I´m not English myself nor have I ever been to a English speaking country.

This is a piss take right?

 

[wrongun73]

the kids today dont give a shit if it doesnt affect their own little life, i asked my mrs. brother if he knew where paris was, he didnt have a clue and when i told him he said 'why do i need to know that'...the guys 19 ffs!

 

[simonr555]

A couple of us were discussing this at work today. We all agreed that we get really annoyed when people cannot grasp the proper use of their, there, they're, your and you're. I can kind of put up with people not spelling words correctly that they're not used to writing or typing as long as they get close enough. However, when they can't spell the most simple of words correctly or simply miss out letters from words that does piss me off. The one word that people seem to spell incorrectly that winds me up the most is 'definitely'.

 

[levets]

Some can´t even spell mortage correctly let alone words that are more complicated. How can you write like that when you are trying to do business?

Hmmm...

Glass houses eh? ....

Oh and it's thre'pence & tuppence

Not tree pence and two pence.... 'to be sure'

 

[levets]

"Spelled" looks all wrong to me, although according to
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Spelled" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Spelled</a>
it is actually a word.
























Still looks wrong to me though (should be "spelt"!).

Spelled is American. Spelt is English.

correct... too much americanism creeping into our language... I blame Disney Channel...

 

[goose72]

He is completely incomprehensible and drinks like fish.

At risk of appearing overly pedantic, this seems a little vague. I mean, at least with the more traditional 'drinks like a fish', one can reasonably use deductive prowess to make some attempt at quantification of how much a fish may drink, or simply accept that it's a colloquial phrase which requires no further explanation.

Omit the indefinite article such as here, and we have no idea - how many fish? Are we talking in terms of quantity or style? What sort of fish? Does one species drink in a different manner to another, and if so how does he succesfully drink like all of them?

It's a bloody minefield frankly.

 

[inchy14]

eye no wart ewe hour torque king a boat. four king chilled wren thee stays doughnut halve err nadir out two right core rectally. Eye thin kits bee gauze off paw tea chairs

PMSL very good bagsy

 

[The Pink Panther]

My brother worked in Bosnia on behalf of the U.N. a few years ago and before he went he had to take an English exam to ensure he could communicate clearly, as English is the universal language of the United Nations.
The exam had to be taken by every nationality no matter what their first language was and when the results were announced, the two Pakistani Policemen scored higher than the two Welsh Policemen.

 

[The Pink Panther]

To some extent I agree with the Stephen Fry school of thought in that he believes that the English language is forever evolving as it always has done.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yezUD8FU8qE[/youtube]