 | Language Change Over Time |  |
 Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 1:33 am |
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| Bloomer |
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| Joined: 23 Oct 2008 |
| Posts: 136 |
| Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA |
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| hellkat wrote: | i have two questions: 1) how do grammatical errors begin, and continue with a life of their own, and 2) will you ever produce a parallel forum called punctuation pals?
as to 1) in lake charles, LA, my hometown, people often say: "i shoulda went" and "I coulda rode" etc. why would such errors begin, and why do they persist, even as television people use careful grammar and pronunciation. is it regional pride? my mother's formula to teach us to hear the incorrect was (and i don't think she invented it) "if i knowed i coulda rode, i woulda went."
corollary to this, the whole I, me thing. the objective for subjective as in "it is for dottie and i." it drives me so crazy that i have even corrected teachers; is is like the fingernails on the chalkboard. are southerners particularly guilty?
as for the punctuation pals, maybe you could resurrect victor borge's recordings. how did punctuation begin? is it merely a convenience for printers, or something that should be held in memory buffer as sentences are constructed while speaking?
your pal, billy bob |
Dear BBHK,
I'm not sure if this is the forum for this answer, but here's a shortened version for you regarding #1.
The majority of English verbs are regular. That is, the past and the participle forms are the same: the verb + ed. So you get:
I faxed it. ---> I shoulda faxed it. (Same form)
She shipped it overnight. ---> She coulda shipped it overnight. (Same)
Unfortunately, the oldest and most basic verbs are irregular: go/went/gone, ride/rode/ridden. People get in the habit of using the non-present form in all other contexts because there's a complete match among all the -ed verbs. And who's to say that these irregular verbs won't regularize in the future? Do you say speed/speeded or speed/sped? Dream/dreamt or dream/dreamed? Regularization in progress, my friend. It's not currently "correct" for the play-by-play guy to say, "He shoulda ran it into the endzone," but change (and the corresponding mid-stage "incorrectness") marches on. |
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| Hello From Brazil! | |
| Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 6:28 am |
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| tomas.aquino |
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| Joined: 27 Oct 2008 |
| Posts: 2 |
| Location: Rio de Janeiro |
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Hello Everyone,
My name is Tomas, I´m from Rio de Janeiro Brazil. I´d like to thanks everyone from nerds team to doing a very good web page. I learning a lot with yours podcast. In my job its quite necessary speak a little piece of english and you are help me on this journey(LOL).
If somebody want please feel free to add me in the msn: delanei_delatans@hotmail.com
One more time thanks Buddies to do a good Job!
Keep in touch! |
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| Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 12:43 am |
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| Klopfenpop |
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| Joined: 09 Nov 2008 |
| Posts: 4 |
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Hey everybody!
My name is Josh Klopfenstein and I'm a huge fan of the podcast. I've been listening for over a year, but unfortunately have, up 'til now, procrastinated and not joined the forum. That said, I am pleased to introduce myself.
I'm a baker and a musician. I manage a bakery here on the north end of Seattle, WA. I also lead a band called Gospelcopter, in which I sing and play piano (and intermitent guitar), at the Shoreline campus of Mars Hill Church. I used to play piano, Rhodes, and organ in the soul band the Brothers of the Empty Tomb.
I'll be twenty-three this December and I'm married to the most beautiful woman in the world, Kristin. |
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| A Michigan Shout-out | |
| Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 4:41 pm |
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| Bloomer |
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| Joined: 23 Oct 2008 |
| Posts: 136 |
| Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA |
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Yo, Nerd Peeps!
I've been onboard for a few months, including a handful of posts, just hadn't gotten around to signing in.
I'm a long-time Midwestern American, with living stints in Europe, Africa, and S. America; work trips to Asia and Australia; and travel to 35 lands. I love meeting interesting people--my wife says at parties I always go up and start chatting with the "foreigners."
I speak English, German, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and a smattering of other languages (Hausa, Italian, Japanese, Swedish, Farsi). My wife is bilingual in English and Longshoreman. We love dinner parties and talking about religion, politics, art, and (Am.) football. I also run long distances...to still fit into my jeans. My non-running wife indulges me in this, partly because she likes the travel connected with out-of-town marathons.
During the day, I work with companies whose smart international employees need to fit culturally and linguistically into the American workplace and their neighborhoods.
See you in the funny papers,
Alan |
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| Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 1:35 pm |
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| DarkKnightJared |
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| Joined: 29 Nov 2008 |
| Posts: 4 |
| Location: Arizona |
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| Hi. I'm, as you can guess, Jared. I'm 20 years old, and a geek for the English language. Uh...don't know what else to say, really. |
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| Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 6:30 am |
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| Dave |
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| Joined: 08 Jun 2006 |
| Posts: 357 |
| Location: Washington, DC |
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| DarkKnightJared wrote: | | Hi. I'm, as you can guess, Jared. I'm 20 years old, and a geek for the English language. Uh...don't know what else to say, really. |
That's plenty! Thanks for joining the forum, Jared! |
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| Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2008 2:18 am |
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| DarkKnightJared |
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| Joined: 29 Nov 2008 |
| Posts: 4 |
| Location: Arizona |
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| Dave wrote: | | DarkKnightJared wrote: | | Hi. I'm, as you can guess, Jared. I'm 20 years old, and a geek for the English language. Uh...don't know what else to say, really. |
That's plenty! Thanks for joining the forum, Jared! |
You're welcome.  |
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| Gandalf from Sweden | |
| Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 7:08 am |
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| gandalf |
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| Joined: 11 Dec 2008 |
| Posts: 2 |
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Hello everybody.
My name is Gandalf, I'm from Sweden, but I live in Slovenia. I've been listening to the podcast since early 06 and I like it alot, obviously. I study English at a Swedish university and speak it everyday. |
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| Re: Gandalf from Sweden | |
| Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2008 6:35 am |
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| Dave |
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| Joined: 08 Jun 2006 |
| Posts: 357 |
| Location: Washington, DC |
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| gandalf wrote: | Hello everybody.
My name is Gandalf, I'm from Sweden, but I live in Slovenia. I've been listening to the podcast since early 06 and I like it alot, obviously. I study English at a Swedish university and speak it everyday. |
Welcome aboard! |
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| intro self | |
| Posted: Wed May 13, 2009 10:17 am |
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| logophile |
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| Joined: 13 May 2009 |
| Posts: 4 |
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My name is Tom, I just discovered the podcast. I've always loved to read. I got hooked on word derivations and meanings when I read a book by Isaac Asimov called Words of Science at age 12 or so.
I'm fifty-[mumble] so I'm from the era when proper grammar, spelling and punctuation were still taught in school 
Seriously, I know I'm getting old 'cuz I catch myself railing about the decline of language, literacy and the world in general. |
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