• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Language.

Another word which is so commonly incorrectly used as to be accepted is aggravate.This comes fom Latin ad + gravis, literally "towards serious", and therefore means to make worse or to make more serious. Also who invented the word Newcular?
 
Thanx, C U 8 er, babe, hun, to name but a few
ps I wouldn't like to call someone pedantic ...............that would be nit picking ;)
 
I am completely the wrong person to answer this, as I am from the UK, but lived in the US for 18 years, and I am a proofreader for a company that produces reports for British clients and American clients. And my husband is American.

So my own personal use of language is totally mangled.

In our house, we say 'trash' for rubbish, 'candy' for sweets and despite everything, I can't get my head round 'annual leave' being 'vacation time'. I pronounce 'router' the American way, say 'schedule' with a sk, and use Oxford commas. I had my children in the US, so certain things will always be American in my head - diapers, pacifiers, kindergarten, cookies. Eighteen years of being an American still caught me out occasionally, though. I had to call 911 once, and I remembered the correct number to dial, only to totally confuse the woman on the other end. Because it didn't occur to me that I was supposed to say that my house had been 'burglarized' and not 'burgled'.

In my job, though, I know which is which in spelling, punctuation and grammar (I hope).

I live in Wales, so am now getting used to everything being 'tidy' and 'lush', and that 'in a minute' can mean whenever.

I also can only pronounce water, butter, lettuce, tomato, potato like a Brit brought up in Southern England, so therefore spent a large portion of adulthood trying to avoid saying these words when humanly possible.
 
helensaramay said:
Personally, I love how our language evolves.
There are words which used to be common but are now considered racist or sexist or homophobic. Although these used to be fine (and many people grew up with them), they are not considered appropriate today.
Describing someone as "a diabetic" is probably not the same level as using any of those terms but just because it was the correct language used, does not mean it will remain the correct language to use.
Today, there are many people who are happy to be described as "a diabetic" and, like you find "a person* with diabetes" amusing or strange. On the other hand, there are people who do not like this term.
Another thing I love about our language is how varied it is: how there are so many different ways there are to describe the same thing.

*I was intrigued that you used the example "a patient with diabetes". Personally, I find "a diabetic" to be more acceptable in a medical scenario because, in that environment, their diabetes is the most significant thing about them. It is describing someone as "a diabetic" in a day-to-day scenario where having diabetes is less relevant that other parts of their character.

But now I am picking nits that are so small you can only see them under a microscope.

As I say, I love that we are all different with different loves and loathes ... I even use txt speak sometimes :)
Click to expand...

I’ve decided I’m a normotensive (having previously been hypertensive), arthritic, diabetic! Bit of a mouthful, so I’ll just answer to Rach!
 
Robinredbreast said:
Thanx, C U 8 er, babe, hun, to name but a few
ps I wouldn't like to call someone pedantic ...............that would be nit picking ;)
Click to expand...
Yes to all those. Mind you, C U 8 er is shortened to 'slaters' down here. Detest it and if I hear it one more time I won't be held accountable for my actions.....
 
You know what makes me uncomfortable?

Pages and pages of posts critiquing spelling and grammar on a forum intended to embrace all ages, nationalities, education levels and cultures.

Such comments will not cause anybody to change their grammar, but they may well intimidate and prevent members from posting when they most need support.

Diabetes does not come with a grammar test as an entry requirement.
 
although I started this thread it was not aimed at users of this forum specifically although I used the word diabetic as a example of the sort of thing that irritates me Bruneria says Pages and pages of posts critiquing spelling and grammar on a forum intended to embrace all ages, nationalities, education levels and cultures

I have not examined every post but Personally I do not think the majority are in any way talking specifically about this forum rather the discussion is about the misuse of Language on the internet in general and if anyone believes it was aimed in a critical way at members of this forum this was not its intent and I for one apologize for any offence Now if you said it was posted in the wrong place I would agree it should be moved to

General Chat
New
Talk about everything and anything; world events, what books you are reading or films you've seen, what the weather was like... it's up to you. Unless that does not mean what it says ?
 
bangkokdiabetic said:
although I started this thread it was not aimed at users of this forum specifically although I used the word diabetic as a example of the sort of thing that irritates me Bruneria says Pages and pages of posts critiquing spelling and grammar on a forum intended to embrace all ages, nationalities, education levels and cultures

I have not examined every post but Personally I do not think the majority are in any way talking specifically about this forum rather the discussion is about the misuse of Language on the internet in general and if anyone believes it was aimed in a critical way at members of this forum this was not its intent and I for one apologize for any offence Now if you said it was posted in the wrong place I would agree it should be moved to

General Chat
New
Talk about everything and anything; world events, what books you are reading or films you've seen, what the weather was like... it's up to you. Unless that does not mean what it says ?
Click to expand...
I must agree. I hadn't thought of the thread as personally attacking, but when I read back through it, I can see how it could be viewed unfavourably. To me it is more like chatting to somebody in the village High Street, which could blinker me as a result. I spend every day at work helping people with learning problems and would hate them to feel victimised, ridiculed or excluded.
 
Well, i can see where you are coming from, and i am quite sure that no one posted on this thread with the deliberate intention of belittling anyone. If i had thought that, I would have got out my Mod Truncheon and done some editing. :)

However, i spent several years working with university students who also had dyslexia, and I know what a blight on their lives it was to be ‘pedanted’.

(As an extreme example, i once saw a card returned to the giver, because it had ‘Happy Brithday’ written on it. The birthday girl really thought she was doing a good thing by pointing out the error while ignoring the sentiment.)

These were bright, interested, young people with a thirst for learning and a desire to express themselves, but so many of them arrived at university after a school career which had often made them feel inferior and given them chips on their shoulders which will probably be there for life. I am talking about a few years ago, but most of ‘my’ students were only at university because they were fighters. The non-fighters had given up before then. The quiet ones. The ones who refused to engage. Who learned not to ask questions, or raise their heads above the parapet, or who chose not to ask questions because the question would be picked apart and ‘corrected’.

I take the view that if I can understand what people are trying to say on the forum then I can respond.
If I can't understand then I can ask for clarification.
I’m happy with that.

(And, in the interests of full disclosure, i have my own personal grammar pedant sitting on my own shoulder critiqueing my own posts. But i try hard not to Pedant at other people.)

Edited to add last 2 paragraphs.
 
Last edited:
Brunneria said:
I would have got out my Mod Truncheon
Click to expand...
More commonly called ban hammers Brun.

helensaramay said:
Today, there are many people who are happy to be described as "a diabetic" and, like you find "a person* with diabetes" amusing or strange. On the other hand, there are people who do not like this term.
Click to expand...
Both words are correct in the right context, you do not say he / she is diabetes , you say he / she is diabetic.

I am diabetic as I have T2 diabetes.

helensaramay said:
There are words which used to be common but are now considered racist or sexist or homophobic. Although these used to be fine (and many people grew up with them), they are not considered appropriate today.
Click to expand...

I have run foul of many a forum moderator about the faggots I used to buy from a pork butcher shop in Wisbech in Cambridgeshire in the sixties. it was a queer place to get a parking spot on a Wednesday market day.

I will see how I go on that last paragraph. :D
 
We have to remember that many people who write and speak English or doing so as a secound language.
I know when I have lived and traveled abroad that the locals have been very forgiving when I have tried to speak their language. My grammar was usually wrong and I didn’t pronounce every word correctly.
I never want to hinder any one trying to communicate.
 
I wish people wouldn't rely on their spell chequer's :)
 
Hotpepper20000 said:
We have to remember that many people who write and speak English or doing so as a secound language.
I know when I have lived and traveled abroad that the locals have been very forgiving when I have tried to speak their language. My grammar was usually wrong and I didn’t pronounce every word correctly.
I never want to hinder any one trying to communicate.
Click to expand...
As a teacher of English as a foreign language I totally agree. I've always encouraged my students to communicate and try and get their message across when speaking and not be overly concerned with accuracy. People are generally less tolerant of long pauses than the odd mistake. Not quite the same when writing and definitely not the same for native speakers. Errors in writing can and should be avoided
 
Brunneria said:
You know what makes me uncomfortable?

Pages and pages of posts critiquing spelling and grammar on a forum intended to embrace all ages, nationalities, education levels and cultures.

Such comments will not cause anybody to change their grammar, but they may well intimidate and prevent members from posting when they most need support.

Diabetes does not come with a grammar test as an entry requirement.
Click to expand...
I don't think any of the things I've read are aimed at criticising anyone's use of language on this forum but I can see your point.
 
I am sure that when I was a child ice was referred to as 'slippery'. Nowadays I often hear the term 'slippy' which is more informal. I dislike that term being used on the TV news etc, but that's how language progresses.
 
Mr_Pot said:
I agree with @Goonergal, it is very irritating and if you really want to ask a question how do you do that?
Click to expand...

For us it is not about asking a question, but a natural part of the intonation of our speech. I speak a few languages so I don't find it at all disconcerting, when differences exist :). Swedish has a very strong melody, for instance, of course, nothing like English. Kiwi English has a different intonation pattern to variants of British English. No big deal, and part of the glorious medley and variation of human language and culture!
 
Back
Top