Crucifiction of the English Language

[JLM]

This is slightly off topic but only as it applies in the geographical sense, I was watching the news coverage on CNN of the piracy near the "Horn" of Africa, when much to my chagrin TWO announcers referred to "The Horn" as the area at the southern tip near the Cape of Good Hope.

 

[L Gilbert]

Well, it is really close if you are looking at Earth from, say, the Moon. Or if you ignore the scales on the maps, it's pretty close.

 

[Goober]

This is slightly off topic but only as it applies in the geographical sense, I was watching the news coverage on CNN of the piracy near the "Horn" of Africa, when much to my chagrin TWO announcers referred to "The Horn" as the area at the southern tip near the Cape of Good Hope.

JLM

It has often been referred to as the Horn - Southern tip

 

[JLM]

JLM

It has often been referred to as the Horn - Southern tip

The Horn of Africa is the Somali Peninsula N.E. Africa, at the southern tip of South America you will find Cape Horn.

 

[L Gilbert]

The Horn is at the southern tip of South America, not Africa, and is called "Cape Horn" on maps.

 

[JLM]

Well, it is really close if you are looking at Earth from, say, the Moon. Or if you ignore the scales on the maps, it's pretty close.

Yeah, give or take a mere 3 or 4 thousand miles- nothing really with all this modern technology. :lol::lol:

 

[JLM]

Also, "the act of executing by a method widespread in the ancient world; the victim's hands and feet are bound or nailed to a cross " - Princeton U. No names, mythical beings, etc. specified, except for the source of the definition.

I guess people who say they "crucified" a friend at cribbage, tennis, chess would also be "totally infected sick", too. How about massacred, decimated, etc.? lol

I'm with you all the way L. Gilbert, but it's just impossible to have a decent debate with people whose common sense is inundated with emotions. As far as I'm concerned there is no word in the English language that "belongs" to anyone or anything unless it's capitalized (as I've said before).

 

[Spade]

lil abner

 

[JLM]

lil abner

I watched a couple of minutes of it, just wondering how much one has to watch to get to the part that pertains to the thread. Did anyone watch the entire hour and ten minutes?

 

[#juan]

I skimmed through this topic and I didn't see it mentioned but my biggest beef is people who use "your" as "you're".

 

[darkbeaver]

I skimmed through this topic and I didn't see it mentioned but my biggest beef is people who use "your" as "you're".

Perhaps your exposed to it to much somewhere.:lol:

 

[#juan]

Perhaps your exposed to it to much somewhere.:lol:

Go eat you're hat.;-)

 

[VanIsle]

I skimmed through this topic and I didn't see it mentioned but my biggest beef is people who use "your" as "you're".

Yours and mine.

 

[JLM]

Yours and mine.

One that I hear a lot that irks me a bit although it may be grammatically correct is the expression "it's a good read", when referring to a book they've read. What's the matter with the old expression we used for years "it's good reading"? Another one is the word "utilize" which means absolutely nothing more than "use"- why use 7 letters when 3 will do to say exactly the same thing?

 

[Cliffy]

One that I hear a lot that irks me a bit although it may be grammatically correct is the expression "it's a good read", when referring to a book they've read. What's the matter with the old expression we used for years "it's good reading"? Another one is the word "utilize" which means absolutely nothing more than "use"- why use 7 letters when 3 will do to say exactly the same thing?

Ah, the more cylinders in a word, the more intelligent it sounds! :roll: For some, it is just being pretentious.

 

[L Gilbert]

hehehe Is that like regardless and irregardless?

 

[JLM]

Ah, the more cylinders in a word, the more intelligent it sounds! :roll: For some, it is just being pretentious.

Yep, sometimes big words have a slightly different shade of meaning than the small word, but a large percentage of the people who use them have NO idea what they mean- REGARDLESS. :lol:

 

[Blackleaf]

Prince Philip once called the lefty BBC the Bolshevik Broadcasting Corporation.

John Prescott, who was Britain's Deputy Prime Minister between 1997 and 2007, was famous for his mangling of our great language.

In 2008, he even admitted that he has a problem with the language and grammar, which he blamed on him receiving a poor education (after all, being a lefty, he must think all these "posh" schools such as Eton, Oxford and Cambridge are just for "toffs" and royals).

He also has a problem with his weight - he weighs a whopping 16 and a half stone, and admitted last year he once suffered bulimia.

Here are some prescottisms:

On the environment: "The Green Belt is a Labour initiative and we intend to build on it."

On housing: "Any definition of homelessness that suggests that people haven’t got a home is not good."

On foreign affairs: "My position is that I want to make our position clear. The example in Germany is just one example, for example."

He once said that industrial disputes can be solved through "meditation", and that when he was an unemployed seaman (he used to be a waiter in the Merchant Navy working for Cunard) he "had to live in one of these hostiles."

He was also known for his violence towards members of the public. Whilst out campaigning during the 2001 General Election, Mr Prescott punched a man in the face after he threw an egg at Mr Prescott.

 

[YukonJack]

Just look at all the posts here!

Has there ever been a more pathetic illiterate bunch of nobodies anywhere??

Grammar, out the window.
Punctuation totally unknown.
Coherent thoughts - forget it.

We are the victims of a generation of Unionized illterates masquarading as teachers. Not only us, but even more regrettably, our children and even more so, absolutely, cryingly regrettably, our grand children.

 

[VanIsle]

hehehe Is that like regardless and irregardless?

So many people use the word irregardless that even though it was never a word, some dictionaries now explain why it is wrong.
ir·re·gard·less

(irÅi gärdÆlis), adv. Nonstandard.
regardless.
[1910–15; IR-2 (prob. after irrespective) + REGARDLESS]
—Usage. IRREGARDLESS is considered nonstandard because of the two negative elements ir- and -less. It was probably formed on the analogy of such words as irrespective, irrelevant, and irreparable. Those who use it, including on occasion educated speakers, may do so from a desire to add emphasis. IRREGARDLESS first appeared in the early 20th century and was perhaps popularized by its use in a comic radio program of the 1930s.