tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post3989989552625712814..comments2024-01-26T20:41:02.065+13:00Comments on Quote Unquote: Graeme Lay on New Zealand EnglishStephen Stratfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00426799380228308536noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-24089693080358074702010-10-27T17:07:28.907+13:002010-10-27T17:07:28.907+13:00Since this kind of post is an invitation to nitpic...Since this kind of post is an invitation to nitpick, I'd like to point out that feedback is not the same as reaction. Say the Dom Post prints a crap article. If I write to them and tell them so, that is both feedback and a reaction. If I just stop buying the paper, or throw it across the room in rage, those are reactions, but the Dom Post gets no feedback. Similarly, wanting feedback is very different from wanting a reaction. <br /><br />Of course, part of the problem is people saying feedback when they mean reaction, but that doesn't meant there's anything wrong with the word feedback.helenalexnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-81253715889109833582010-10-20T15:31:43.478+13:002010-10-20T15:31:43.478+13:00On the topic of "like", this excellent p...On the topic of "like", this excellent post which picks up on Christopher Hitchens' derision of the usage:<br /><br />http://unspeak.net/like/<br /><br /><i>Anyway, Hitchens’s diagnosis proceeds:<br /><br /><b>To report that “he was like, Yeah, whatever” is to struggle to say “He said” while minimizing the risk of commitment.</b><br /><br />I don’t think this is, like, right? To say “He was like, Yeah, whatever”, is to give a beautifully economical report of the person’s entire demeanour and attitude. Hitchens has cited some linguists pointing out that the construction “does not require the quote to be of actual speech (as ‘she said’ would, for instance). A shrug, a sigh, or any of a number of expressive sounds as well as speech can follow it”. But even when what sounds like speech does follow, it is not necessarily meant to be understood as more-or-less-accurate reported speech. For <b>he was like, Yeah, whatever</b>, it is entirely possible (or even probable?) that the person did not actually say “Yeah, whatever” — there is a creative ambiguity in play as to whether he was like introduces accurate reported speech or a very rough précis of speech or even merely a verbal description of gesture (he might not have said anything at all) — so that to replace it with Hitchens’s suggestion, the flat “He said”, could well be to commit a falsehood. <br /><br />In sum, he was like and he said do not actually mean the same thing; and Hitchens is like, I do not approve of this youthspeak that I have not made sufficient efforts to understand?</i>Samuelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12633616551506978330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-15666142141733487562010-10-18T21:25:28.513+13:002010-10-18T21:25:28.513+13:00It's like sometimes hard to y'know underst...It's like sometimes hard to y'know understand what some of yous are saying when ya don't talk proper but sometimes it's just showing off that you've like gotten a bettter education than I done.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-76690483519544922442010-10-18T16:47:05.372+13:002010-10-18T16:47:05.372+13:00Think "like" is an offense on the Englis...Think "like" is an offense on the English language introduced by Valley Girls in the 1980s? Think again. http://su.pr/4BCkO4<br />:-)Helenhttp://www.helenheath.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-8408055874353772762010-10-18T16:17:56.130+13:002010-10-18T16:17:56.130+13:00Or 'It was soooo totally, like - the worst of ...Or 'It was soooo totally, like - the worst of times.'Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13844770989707493644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-50393658055545260842010-10-18T09:05:23.927+13:002010-10-18T09:05:23.927+13:00"I'm amazed at how teenagers are copying ..."I'm amazed at how teenagers are copying the American patois - with 'like' sprinkled wildly into any sentence."<br /><br />I used to notice friends and acquaintances who'd start doing this in their early teens; they generally stopped again by the time they were in seventh form.<br /><br />'Fully' used to pop up as a form of extra emphasis, sometimes twinned with 'like'. Usage example: "It was, like, fully the best of times, yet kind of like the worst of times too."Samuelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12633616551506978330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-31983904229791693202010-10-15T19:46:47.399+13:002010-10-15T19:46:47.399+13:00Everything you say is true
Nerver the less it is a...Everything you say is true<br />Nerver the less it is a sign of old fartism when you start railing against spoken English; it is a living language and is always changing.<br /> Nothing new about that and nothing new about old farts complain that people do not speak like them<br />Join the club, I am a fully paid up memberAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-83844032450868046432010-10-15T17:52:40.495+13:002010-10-15T17:52:40.495+13:00I'm amazed at how teenagers are copying the Am...I'm amazed at how teenagers are copying the American patois - with 'like' sprinkled wildly into any sentence. Yet - the 'i' sound (e.g. in 'ilke' is becoming more pure as they also imitate USA pronuncialtion - instead of the the old 'oi' sound.<br />But they still say fush and Nyo Zillund. HmmmPhilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13844770989707493644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-52186966762821313672010-10-15T15:01:44.700+13:002010-10-15T15:01:44.700+13:00Danyl, Shakespeare was a shameless user of cliches...Danyl, Shakespeare was a shameless user of cliches. The plays are full of them.Stephen Stratfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00426799380228308536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-45090202697769009492010-10-15T14:16:51.404+13:002010-10-15T14:16:51.404+13:00Personally, I look forward to the day we're al...Personally, I look forward to the day we're all speaking lolcats.<br />"Oh noes! Mai english iz nut edumacated."<br /><br />Danyl - I totes LOLd.BookieMonsterhttp://www.bookiemonster.co.nznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2131514811483888026.post-18204464158845937082010-10-15T13:36:19.959+13:002010-10-15T13:36:19.959+13:00There was no room in David’s language locker for s...<i>There was no room in David’s language locker for such hideous expressions as ‘at this point in time’ or clichés such as ‘in a nutshell’.</i><br /><br />How awful to see the language of Shakespeare cheapened by phrases like 'in a nutshell.'Danylnoreply@blogger.com