LOL 'dunno' that is especially funny in this thread.

BTW- Here is your comma ,

quote:

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Originally posted by Bravus:
I dunno. I like the comma in my sentence above: try reading it with no audible pause (_pace_ Rob) and it sounds jumbly. The 'and' is not part of a list of things here, it's the beginning of a new thought. This is one of those ones where I'd rather make it easy for the reader than be strictly grammatical.

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Hence, my question....

(edit: bugger, forgot my comma)

quote:

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Originally posted by hurtstotouchfire:
One thing that I've noticed, and am quite horrified by, is that despite my snobby literary background, I still have some blatant California-isms.

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Welcome to the wonderful world of what the world calls Americanisation, but would probably be better termed "Californisation".

It's a nice, big fat, slice of a Southwestern US coastal state that's served up by shrewd media companies and other big businesses:

"Hey, we need an angle to promote to these kids."
"Like what?"
"Howsabout California? Y'know, it's all nice and sunny, so chicks must walk in bikinis and guys walk round boardshorts. And a lotta places like LA are fulla rich people, so if we get kids thinking, even talking that way, they'll think they'll have to spend like these guys to be these guys. Heck, places on Australia's Gold Coast and such might start naming parts of them after parts of us."
"Well, aren't there other places like that?"
"Yeah, but they aren't as cool. And if the kids don't like the idea of being a trendy-yuppie, we'll let them think they be bad-ass gangstas from Compton."
"Hell of a good idea."
"No, no - hella good idea."

No offence or anything HTTF. Like, I was all, like, you know, totally being all sarcastic. Like. Erm, dude.

I think the technical term is Californication, though it's entirely possible that the Rod Hot Chili Peppers are part of the aforementioned media conspiracy.

No no Californicating is when you . . .


never mind.


,,,,

as a former trailer-park-in-Oakland-CA-resident and current half-affluent/half-surfer-town resident, i've seen tons of examples of total-californication..

the worst is seeing a rich white kid wearing a FUBU sweatshirt using the phrase "Knowhati'msayin.." after every uttered phrase.. white kids who think they're "Ghetto" because they know all the words to the new Eminem album and play basketball with a nylon skullcap on.. it's kind of sad.. and you can't point things like that out to them..
and hey, what does the opinion of a person who lived OFF OF Martin Luther King Blvd. in "The Ghetto" matter to a 16 year old with a Mercedes SLK anyway?

this is an entirely separate thought, hence the separate post..
i've noticed many people, when referring to something that they've tried (like a drink, or food item or something along those lines), but are unsure of it, use the phrase "I've had to have had that before.."

arrrghhh!!

What happened with US and British English is that the two lost contact and developed independently. (Of course, there was no such thing as standard English until the 18th century, so there was no standard usage to deviate from.) It's rather like the difference between modern French and the French spoken in Canada. Amusingly, many expressions that we think are typically American are actually found in older English texts - Chaucer, for example, said "I guess" meaning "I think".

...all...

well, i got the "all" thing from science fiction, especially cyberpunk, especially William Gibson.

from Ray Bradbury:

"the roads all junk and zigzagged" or thereaboots.

the hallway all neon and brushed aluminum.

americanism? i'm not sure i'm ready to go there. there are plenty of sayings i've heard or have started to use from my own brain that appear at the same time in other partrs of the world. i call it coincidence or tandem evolution. whatever. i feel there are a lot of things blamed on "americanization" that are simply synchronized evolutions emerging in western cultures. what with the states being the most flagrant and obvious western postergirl, however, it seems logical that she would be blamed for any dialect changes.

or it could be something else.

I often wonder how much of ourselves and our pet language peeves reveal about. I, for one, hate overly Latinate language, long sentences full of subordinate clauses and the subjunctive mood.

Not that I've ever, um, written any of these....

This message has been edited. Last edited by: digitalprimate,

aha! the Bradbury line i was refering to actually goes

...cities all junk, roads like jigsaws from bombs...

The Smile. 1963.

wonderful short story, as they all seem to be. (what i've read anyway)

quote:

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Originally posted by digitalprimate:
I often wonder how much of ourselves and our pet language peeves reveal about. I, for one, hate overly Latinate language, long sentences full of subordinate clauses and the subjunctive mood.

Not that I've ever, um, written any of these....

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yes, i've wondered aboot that too. the only one i listed had to do with censoring one's own speech. hmmmm.....

AC's favorite Californism:

Dude.

Also its slight (pejorative) variation:

Dood.

Apologies to Vecna

A flag is at half *mast* only if you're on a ship.

Terrestrial flags are at half *staff*

And while we're at it...

Not a languate abouse but a flag abuse. Now, I'm not the most flag wavin' of guys and it might surprise you to learn that I was a boy scout, but unless:

You are a General or Admiral in the US Armed forces in time of war
You are a senior state department employee on a diplomatic visit
You are the vice president of the United States
You are the President of the United States...

then take that damn flag off your car!

When I was at school, effect was a noun and affect was a verb - which might explain this:

Noun: affect
1. The conscious subjective aspect of feeling or emotion
Verb: affect
1. Have an effect upon
2. Act physically on; have an effect upon
3. Connect closely and often incriminatingly
4. Make believe
5. Have an emotional or cognitive impact upon


Noun: effect
1. A phenomenon that follows and is caused by some previous phenomenon
2. An outward appearance
3. A symptom caused by an illness or a drug
4. An impression (especially one that is artificial or contrived)
5. (of a law) having legal validity
6. The central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work
Verb:
1. Cause to happen or occur
2. Act so as to bring about

from WordWeb.

oh my, dp, we are in trouble.

I actually like long phrases full of subordinates and the subjunctive mode. Well, more than liking, let´s say that I use them a lot, in both speech and writing, because my brain tends to kick on overdrive when I speak about something I am interested in, and it is extremely difficult for me not to deviate and add second thoughts and explanations that come to my mind while I speak. I manage never to get lost in the development of my speech, and always go back to the original thought. Well, almost always. The example above is actually a short one by my standards.
As for the subjunctive, I spend 70% of my time speaking, writing and thinking in Spanish, and this language has a far greater use for this mode. Nothing I can do about that. Of course, when I switch to English it is often difficult, when not impossible, for me to avoid using spaniard structures.

Just in case this sounds too much as an apology, no, it is not.

I am with you in latinates, though. I have never understood why English uses about ten times more latin than Spanish or Italian, which happen to be romance languages, and not a germanic barbarism.

MvR

'make due'

I'm not familiar with that one Bravus. How is it misused?

Uh oh. It's not a corruption of "make do" (as in "make do with less money") is it? That would be right up there with "I could care less" on the peeve scale.

"loose" in place of "lose."

I'd never seen that pre-internet.

"The masses have nothing to loose but their chains."

Unless the chains are being unleashed, or shot from bows.

Or maybe, with a bit of license, if you mean "loosen."

...And can I just comment of the paranoia inherent in posting in a thread that's been deliberately designed for pedants? I stared at "loosen" for a good minute or two doubting whether or not I'd just made it up, or if it wasn't the plural for "loon" in some Germanic language or another that I don't speak.

These have been around for a good while, but you still hear people talking about "vicious cycles" and "foul swoops".