Isn't that pretty much what people already thought about Shakespeare?
I kinda have the feeling that we are stuck in a constant loop here.
Teach me the secrets of English grammar!
- Thread starter valcik
- Start date
Isn't that pretty much what people already thought about Shakespeare?
I kinda have the feeling that we are stuck in a constant loop here.
UniversalWolf
eaten by a grue.
The "k" in these words are holdovers from Middle English and earlier. There was a lot of Saxon and Scandinavian influence in older English, and the "k" used to be pronounced rather than silent. Knight used to be more like "K'n-ICHT," if that makes sense. I think it all got softened after the Norman conquest.
The double-c comes from Latin and tends to follow Latinate rules in words like vaccuum, success, and succinct. Technically both c's are supposed to be pronounced, but almost no one does that. Other double letter follow (and break) a variety of rules. In general they have a slightly longer pronounciation than single letters. Often when you turn an action into a person you insert an extra letter, like this: I swim - I am a swimmer.
I blame the french.
Essentially it's a break between two sentences that isn't as hard as a period. Here's a good link to explain in detail:
http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/semicolons.asp
Frankly, there are so many different people from so many different places speaking so many different shades of English that you can get away with quite a few errors. Most English speakers are used to decoding what people are trying to say. Much of the time that includes other native English speakers.
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The_WitchDoctor
It Wandered In From the Wastes
In short, English is just basically a massive mixture of different languages (Latin being the most popular, after all the majority of Western European languages stemmed from some for of Latin or another).
UniversalWolf
eaten by a grue.
Not only that; it's The Borg of lanuages. Anytime it encounters a new word or concept it doesn't already possess, it instantly assimilates it.
SnapSlav
NMA's local DotA fanatic
My favorite such word is cavalier. COMPLETELY different pronunciation in English from its French origin. "Ka va lee ar" vs "Sha Vel Yay" XD
Like I said, English is a "conquered language", though calling it the "Borg of languages" sounds like a more readily understood analogy.
Juza The Cloud
Nanto Goshasei
I call English the "Hinduism of Languages" for similar reasons; its ability to adsorb foreign words and the amount of adjectives is insane.
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Cistern Logic
Assistant to Dr. Mobius
Here's some that a good number of my countrymen routinely get wrong.
Let's prepare for the G.O.A.T - English, Vault 101:
To Too & Two "This is a letter (to) you (two). You have been invited (too)."
There Their & They're "(They're) taking (their) children (there)."
Hint: They sound identical, and the spell checker won't always catch them but if they're used incorrectly, the language police will jump all over you on a message board.
Let's prepare for the G.O.A.T - English, Vault 101:
To Too & Two "This is a letter (to) you (two). You have been invited (too)."
There Their & They're "(They're) taking (their) children (there)."
Hint: They sound identical, and the spell checker won't always catch them but if they're used incorrectly, the language police will jump all over you on a message board.
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SnapSlav
NMA's local DotA fanatic
But not before the Fallout hardliners jump you YOU for using a FO3 callback. =DHere's some that a good number of my countrymen routinely get wrong.
Let's prepare for the G.O.A.T - English, Vault 101:
To Too & Two "This is a letter (to) you (two). You have been invited (too)."
There Their & They're "(They're) taking (their) children (there)."
Hint: They sound identical, and the spell checker won't always catch them but if they're used incorrectly, the language police will jump all over you on a message board.
The_WitchDoctor
It Wandered In From the Wastes
Can somebody explain to me what the fuck Knicks are?
It's short for Knickerbockers, a type of trousers.
"Knickers" in BE usually means panties, though.
"Knickers" in BE usually means panties, though.
The_WitchDoctor
It Wandered In From the Wastes
Ah, I still don't have British idioms and slang words down. I used to know a British ex-pat though (who I constantly tried to, well you can figure it out). I picked up some words from her, like "trolly" instead of "shopping cart", and bonnet/boot for hood/trunk.
There are other explanations and definitions for "knicks", though. The Urban Dictionary is always helpful when it comes to that 
The_WitchDoctor
It Wandered In From the Wastes
There are other explanations and definitions for "knicks", though. The Urban Dictionary is always helpful when it comes to that
Except that I can never take the UD serious because half the writers on there are trolls. It's like Wikipedia if it wasn't heavily moderated.
There are other explanations and definitions for "knicks", though. The Urban Dictionary is always helpful when it comes to that
Except that I can never take the UD serious because half the writers on there are trolls. It's like Wikipedia if it wasn't heavily moderated.
Yeah, it requires a lot of scepticism, but it's a fun read nonetheless.
UniversalWolf
eaten by a grue.
Yeah, that is pretty good. The pictures help the ADD crowd (and Bethesda fans).
In Brit slang "fanny" means crotch, which makes the term "fanny pack" sound funny to them. In the U.S. fanny means butt, so a fanny pack is a small pouch you wear on the back of your belt.
Brits also use the word "pissed" to mean drunk. In the U.S. pissed means angry, as in, "I'm pissed off at you!"
The most annoying thing I see from North Americans is incorrectly substituting "of" in place of "have." For example, "I should of gone to the store," instead of "I should have gone to the store." It looks horrible in writing because it's so simple. It makes you look like you're either really stupid or really careless, or some combination of the two. It's the kind of mistake non-native speakers don't make because they're paying attention to what they're writing and trying to get it right.
T
TorontoReign
Guest
"Should've" is kinda how it should be said if someone wanted to shorten it, but writing it out that way is definitely wrong. I go to the Urban Dictionary for slang all the time since I over analyze words and their meanings. I am curious about words that sound strange to me for no reason. Some words you say your whole life without thinking too deeply about the meaning. People around here call soft drinks pop usually. I always called it that out of habit until I heard people elsewhere calling it soda and it naturally wore off on me.
UniversalWolf
eaten by a grue.
As far as I know, "pop" is a Midwest thing. Everywhere else I've ever been everyone says "soda," and they look at you like you're crazy if you say "pop." I guess when "soda-pop" was shortened, one part of the country went one direction and everyone else in the country went the other direction.
T
TorontoReign
Guest
Here in Oklahoma people call it pop for the most part. It just varies from state to state really. I'm a soda convert. 
D
Deleted member 53669
Guest
I call it high-fructose cancer juice.
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