Martin McIntosh Posted October 1, 2023 Share Posted October 1, 2023 I recently had an ad on there and got an email to say that it was about to expire. It said `expiration date` and I thought that the site was British! Expiration is actually in the dictionary but surely `expiry` would be more in keeping, or can we not write our own s/w anymore? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Jenkins Posted October 1, 2023 Share Posted October 1, 2023 I'm afraid, Martin, that our language has been invaded by Americanisms and that is just one example. "Visit with you", "right" said at the end of every sentence, and so on and so forth. Punctuation, spelling and grammar also appear to be in rapid decline although that seems to be laid at the door of the text message where brevity and the use of short forms reign unchallenged, Gr8, for example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin b Posted October 1, 2023 Share Posted October 1, 2023 In fairness it is not just Americans. A lot of it is due to the influx of migrants over the last 100 years as well as "evolution". If you went back in England 500 years, you would probably have difficulty understanding the language that was spoken back then (never mind the writing !). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted October 1, 2023 Share Posted October 1, 2023 1 minute ago, kevin b said: In fairness it is not just Americans. A lot of it is due to the influx of migrants over the last 100 years as well as "evolution". If you went back in England 500 years, you would probably have difficulty understanding the language that was spoken back then (never mind the writing !). Celts, Norsemen, Romans, Indians, Arabs, Saxons etc etc ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Walsh Posted October 1, 2023 Share Posted October 1, 2023 40 minutes ago, john stones 1 - Moderator said: Celts, Norsemen, Romans, Indians, Arabs, Saxons etc etc ? Don't forget the Norman French! Although to be fair, Norman French was a very nice guy I used to fly with many years ago. 🤣 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatMc Posted October 1, 2023 Share Posted October 1, 2023 Next thing you know they'll be referring to tailplanes as "horizontal stabilizers" & fins as "vertical stabilisers". 🙄 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Stephenson Posted October 1, 2023 Share Posted October 1, 2023 There's one guy on there who always starts the title to his ads with his name, weird or what! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatMc Posted October 1, 2023 Share Posted October 1, 2023 Does he use each of the three words in rotation or just randomly choose which one he starts with? 😉 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff S Posted October 1, 2023 Share Posted October 1, 2023 I know it's getting bad when everyone splits infinitives and ends sentences with prepositions. And as for starting sentences with conjunctions ... words fail me! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatMc Posted October 1, 2023 Share Posted October 1, 2023 36 minutes ago, Geoff S said: I know it's getting bad when everyone splits infinitives and ends sentences with prepositions. And as for starting sentences with conjunctions ... words fail me! But I'm sure you'll soon get over it However if you don't, don't worry. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Jenkins Posted October 1, 2023 Share Posted October 1, 2023 I never get over infinitives being split. If I do fall into that trap, I immediately correct myself. There are some, of course, who have no idea what splitting an infinitive means but you would think that BBC news readers would know that they shouldn't do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Stephenson Posted October 1, 2023 Share Posted October 1, 2023 Splitting infinitives is a purist thing, it's only because an infinitive in Latin is one word it seems the language scholars feel the need to apply it to English as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Jenkins Posted October 1, 2023 Share Posted October 1, 2023 Well, if you don't have any rules for spoken and written English there would be plenty of scope to be misunderstood. I appreciate that not everybody cares about infinitives and whether they are split or not. I would just observe that there are also a lot of folk you confuse singular with plural construction such as "there's lots of things to talk about". Just imagine if we managed to get tenses mixed up. I went out tomorrow and flew my model. Of course, language always evolves and new ways of speaking which start off as slang or something someone says that sounds good to someone else and it is then repeated. Perhaps "My bad" and an example of that. I do wish though that we could see the demise of "Me and the wife went out to dinner". We wouldn't say "Me went out to dinner" would we? Where do you draw the line? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff S Posted October 2, 2023 Share Posted October 2, 2023 I've always enjoyed English and its structure and regretted having to drop English Literature at 14 because I opted for the science subjects at school. I particularly liked the structure of the language which is, perhaps, why I enjoyed the strict grammar needed to write what software I had to write in later life. My pet peeves are, gerunds, and the difference between 'less' and 'fewer' for instance. Oddly enough, split infinitives aren't always awkward but often are and sentences that end in prepositions are sometimes fine but often an ugly sentence ends in a preposition. I'm being finicky, I know, but I've edited/proofed some fiction for people so it's expected 🙂 English is a beautiful and flexible language and it's a shame if it's treated with a lack of respect. It's OK to break the rules sometimes but it works better if you have some idea of the rules before you do. Nothing to do with toy aeroplanes (not airplanes!), of course, so the mods can delete if they so wish. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Collinson Posted October 2, 2023 Share Posted October 2, 2023 The Antipodean influence is not to be overlooked, with the infuriating rising interrogative turning every statement into a question. It’s like so totally dumb, OMG, innit? 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Collinson Posted October 2, 2023 Share Posted October 2, 2023 Have we had apostrophe’s yet? 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Stephenson Posted October 2, 2023 Share Posted October 2, 2023 Or "then" where "than" should be used. Oops, I just started a sentence with a conjunction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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