82 replies to this topic

[sweetser]

"Ty" annoys me too, as does "bk" in substitution for "back", and "itlaaradtcimmwc" in substitution for "I talk like an absolute retard and demonstrate this clearly in my written communication"

Haha that made me laugh

[MiniMonty]

I got a takeaway leaflet through today

Do you mean "I had a takeaway leaflet delivered today" ?

Customer: Can I get a cheesburger ?
Worker: No, I have to get it for you

The misuse of 'get' and 'got' is the most common and most annoying aberration.
Followed only by "theres" (with no apostrophe of course) in place of "there are".
i.e. "theres thousands of people outside shouting about something"
instead of
"there ARE thousands of people outside"...

I'm turning into a grumpy old man about this and shout at the the television most days.
And the radio.
And the forum.

I need a drink.

[IFlingPoo]

This annoys me, as well. Funny though, that some of the posts in this thread contain errors.

[M44K TS]

'Txt spk' Anoys the hell out of me, that, and people that don't know the difference between 'your', and, 'you're'. I also hate it when people type, 'me', instead of, 'my'.

It's basic English, surely most people have a good grasp of it.

I've also noticed, that alot of people from South London and the likes, say 'arks' instead of 'ask', again, it's not hard to pronounce a 3 letter word is it?


One last thing, i used to work for Barclays doing the telephone banking, I used to hate it when i would hear people i worked with just talking with a broad Newcastle or underland accent. Now being from the North East, i persoanlly hate it when people intentionaly put on a broad accent just for the sake of it, and you can tell when they do it. Whenever i spoke to any customer, no matter where they were from, i made the effort to speak clealey and almost as if i had no specific broad accent, Mind you, it's wasn't the Queens English or speaking like i had plums in my mouth!

I remember one day, i had a pretty long chat with a customer about the subject of accents, i think she was from Bristol, but didn't have a broad accent, we both agreed that whilst talking to someone from the other end of the country, effort should be made so that people can understand each other. The very call i took straight after, was a guy from Peckham. I took some details about his account, then went on to ask the usual security questions, one of them being, "Can you name the details of any direct debit, or standing order that leaves your account, or any recent transaction you have made within the last 2 weeks?"

He replied with, "Yeah, ar fink a drawed art firty paand the avar day" I thought, come on, you can't be serious, you can't actually beleove you speak correctly. Best of it was, he was an accountant or something along the lines of that anyway.

Edited by M44K TS, 20 April 2009 - 07:59 AM.

[ash]

A point that might be missing is that language evolves over time as with most things. Shakespeare would probably struggle to understand some of the language used today. Words are invented and others end up being dropped from the dictionary. I'm not trying to throw the cat amongst the pigeons as I believe a lot of what has been said, just adding my view that some things are uncontrollable.

[Dan]

This annoys me, as well. Funny though, that some of the posts in this thread contain errors.

Such as over use of the comma for example.

[CharlieBrown]

One of the funny things I've noticed during a family visit is that my Aunty and Cousin have picked up on "Street talk" but not quite got it.

So as you know a popular phrase at the moment is "isn't it" but as they were brought up well it becomes "isn't it" at the end of a sentence, even when it is not even required, crazy.

For example.

Oh, look at that nice rabbit, isn't it.





ps Yes I did spell check this

[lon3_wo1f409]

I completely understand where you are all coming from i am 19, i hate Text talk with a passion. I get to a point where someone on MSN will shorten almost every word. I wont even reply to it until they type out there sentence properly. so all my mates quickly learned.

[Ethel]

One of the funny things I've noticed during a family visit is that my Aunty and Cousin have picked up on "Street talk" but not quite got it.

So as you know a popular phrase at the moment is "isn't it" but as they were brought up well it becomes "isn't it" at the end of a sentence, even when it is not even required, crazy.

For example.

Oh, look at that nice rabbit, isn't it.





ps Yes I did spell check this

Isn't that just being Welsh instead of Street?

I don't see any major issue with get. "Can I get a cheeseburger?" sounds like a not unreasonable contraction of "Can I get a cheeseburger from you?". More polite than "I will have" or "get me a" and it's a question inviting a response unlike "I would like".

[Dan]

Customer: Can I get a cheesburger ?
Worker: No, I have to get it for you

It's quite funny that you've used this as an example because it's a phrase that many people misunderstand, particularly when used as an example of poor language. As Ethel says, the word get is not the the fault with that sentence. The primary definition of get is 'come to have, to receive' and as such it's perfectly correct in that use. Albeit a little Americanised. The incorrect word is can. Can implies ability or permission rather than a request to be given an item. The word used should be may.

[Black.Ghost]

I have really enojyed reading this thread. Like most people on here, I will admit that I often make little mistakes, but it is not through an inability to construct sentecnes merely typing too fast.

I HATE R&B MUSIC!!!!!

How did we end up with MOBO awards.... if we had MOWO awards we'd all be racists!!!!!!
Don't let me start on the straight pride marches!!!!!!!

I now have a brilliant opinion of you. All of the problems that have been talked about in this thread apply to my 18-year old sister. Don;t get me wrong, I love her to bits, but it annoys the hell out of me when she talks 'txt'. Other annoying features include being a lesbian and going on about gay pride and rights etc...I informed her that when she plans on doing this, Liam (my little brother, who incidentally speaks well) and myself would go to the march with big banners, and walk down the street shouting, 'I'm straight, I'm straight, look at me!!'. We would probably get arrested for something stupid though.

I dont just mean getting shot of SATS to make school fun - they need to change the way they teach full stop!

Thank god my daughter's school have never done them.

I loved Junior school - it was fun. We were allowed to get dirty, have fun and played games which actually educated us.

Secondary school was a whole different kettle of fish mind you - Im the dim one of the family!

I think that Mister Health and Safety has ruined this aspect of childhood...

You learn through DOING... don't they UNDERSTAND!

This is so true. It is still how teaching is done in the army. Not in the same way as at primary school, but teaching practical skills involves, talking through and doing yourself, then go through again with them, slow time, and then finally get them to do it on their own.

They're, their, there. Three different words, three different uses. Why is they never get used correctly any more?

I hate this. It annoys the living hell out of me. There are many other examples, too. These include:

Whose, Who's.
Were, where, we're.
To, too, two.
He's, his.
Weather, whether

I could go on for some time. My biggest gripe, however, is the constant misuse of an apostrophe. Especially when it is used in plural's. It genuinely seems that most young people do not know the correct use of the apostrophe.

there was a case last year (possibly, maybe the year before) where an English student wrote their entire exam in text talk (not sure what happened to the student) but it is outrageous that students would even think to write their essays in un-proper English.

I saw this as well. i think the poor girl was surprised to find out she actually failed the exam. She must have been so devastated.

"Ty" annoys me too, as does "bk" in substitution for "back", and "itlaaradtcimmwc" in substitution for "I talk like an absolute retard and demonstrate this clearly in my written communication"

PMSL Brilliant.

I agree with the majority of the reasons for the decline of the English language amongst the younger generations. I accept the point being made that a language will develop with time, however I also believe there has to be limits. Adding text words to the back of a dictionary is, IMHO, unacceptable. Although at the same time, I would guess that the majority of the people who talk and write in such a manner are not actually aware of what a dictionary is.

It is mildly amusing looking at some of the mistakes people are making in this thread as well.

[Jimmy Hat]

I agree, it is mildly amusing. Which is why I had a little chortle when you said you hated 'txt' talk with a vengeance and then used IMHO and PMSL in the same post

I could have another huge rant about this, but I haven't got anything to say that hasn't already been said

[Jimmy Hat]

About the whole 'gay pride' thing, I'm in full agreement with you. Obviously being gay myself I know theres nothing wrong with it but why is it anything more to be proud of than being straight? When was the last time anybody saw a straight pride march? The gay rights thing I'm a little more sympathetic of, because there is still sadly a lot of bias against LGB people today, so even the marches and protests and stuff are okay in my book even though I'd never go to one myself. It is very possible to take it too far to the point where it gets annoying though, which I hate because it just makes people less sympathetic...

I dont have any more idea why I felt the need to write that than you do, but I've written it now so I'm posting it

[Black.Ghost]

I agree, it is mildly amusing. Which is why I had a little chortle when you said you hated 'txt' talk with a vengeance and then used IMHO and PMSL in the same post

I could have another huge rant about this, but I haven't got anything to say that hasn't already been said

Hmm, this is a good point you make. However, to me, acronyms are not necessarily txt talk. But yeah good point.

Edited by TneMini, 20 April 2009 - 10:01 PM.

[dave21478]

Part of the problem is that many kids seem to think its "cool" to be dumb. I know my niece is very guilty of this. Her and her friends all seem to try to out-do each other in the "dumb blonde" stakes.
Look who is in fashion these days, and who are kids role models....barely literate footballers, Jade "Mensa" Goody and thousands of other so-called celebrities who all appear to be poorly-educated imbeciles.
I have noticed that even the BBC news have some reporters using words like "gunna", "dunno" etc in their reports alongside the general bad grammer.