The Death of English as we know it...
-
A noble and valiant attempt but an impossible one, language never stays the same and evolves continuously. If I compare the sort of things you get to hear when they show snippets on TV from, for example, the news in the 50's and 60's its very different from what we hear today. Around here there is a lot of discussion these days the use of AN (standard or formal dutch) and dialects. One group insists on the use of AN while others prefer dialects. For the past 50 years schools have rigidly tried to enforce the use of AN and now people are complaining that our rich variety of dialects is disappearing. :confused: What else did they expect ? Dialects are also disappearing because people are more mobile, communicate a lot more and see/hear a lot of stuff from very diverse sources than they used to. It will keep changing, it happened with UK/Irish/Scottisch/American/Australian/Canadian/... English and equally with Afrikan/Flemisch/Dutch. In the last case Dutch as spoken in the Netherlands and Flanders officially sticks to AN but still TV channels on both sides of the border usually provide subtitles for TV shows they air from the other side of the border. Something a lot of people do not like either but is ultimately inevitable. Lots of grumbling as well about more and more "English" words being used here, not to mention youngsters extensively using "SMS" language. No matter, it is inevitable and a hundred years from now people looking a current day newspaper will find them just as archaic as we do when we see when we see a reprint from 1914 (we got to see quite a few of those because of the 100th anniversary of the "great war").
What I find interesting is if you say to yourself "I won't use this word" then it forces you to think of other words you can, and possibly should, use. It's a divergent exercise in that it expands the range of one's vocabulary instead of a convergent exercise where the wordset used shrinks.
cheers Chris Maunder
-
Fewer posts, surely ... the number of posts on CP is not yet so large we need to consider it a continuous variable!
There is another error in their, along the same lines. There are also two mistakes in this post, though the one is paradoxical.
PB 369,783 wrote:
I just find him very unlikeable, and I think the way he looks like a prettier version of his Mum is very disturbing.[^]
-
What I find interesting is if you say to yourself "I won't use this word" then it forces you to think of other words you can, and possibly should, use. It's a divergent exercise in that it expands the range of one's vocabulary instead of a convergent exercise where the wordset used shrinks.
cheers Chris Maunder
Jokes apart, after spending the best part of a decade in non-English speaking countries I found my everyday vocabulary had shrunk. I stopped using what we would term as rich language as it would not be understood and so failed at the first hurdle. When I returned to the UK, I had to relearn to speak proper like what I do now.
-
There is another error in their, along the same lines. There are also two mistakes in this post, though the one is paradoxical.
PB 369,783 wrote:
I just find him very unlikeable, and I think the way he looks like a prettier version of his Mum is very disturbing.[^]
-
Jokes apart, after spending the best part of a decade in non-English speaking countries I found my everyday vocabulary had shrunk. I stopped using what we would term as rich language as it would not be understood and so failed at the first hurdle. When I returned to the UK, I had to relearn to speak proper like what I do now.
You speak real good. Actually I feel like that now. I can't use any of the rich, colourful terms we have in Oz becuase I just get blank stares, or worse: they just pick a random interpretation of what they think I said and go with it.
cheers Chris Maunder
-
:innocent whistle: I've actually been trolling DD, but he rarely bights.
PB 369,783 wrote:
I just find him very unlikeable, and I think the way he looks like a prettier version of his Mum is very disturbing.[^]
-
Chris Maunder wrote:
inconsistent and illogical language we have
Didn't knew that you speak german :^)
I will never again mention that Dalek Dave was the poster of the One Millionth Lounge Post, nor that it was complete drivel.
-
There is another error in their, along the same lines. There are also two mistakes in this post, though the one is paradoxical.
PB 369,783 wrote:
I just find him very unlikeable, and I think the way he looks like a prettier version of his Mum is very disturbing.[^]
-
This is actual code in our codebase:
// Items in Bad must have counterparts in Good.
private static readonly string[] _badWords =
{
<list of really naughty words >, "gotten"
};private static readonly string[] _goodWords =
{
<list of really naughty words santised>, "acquire, obtain, come by, receive, gain, or any of the many, many, MANY other words that deserve to be used instead" };...
// some code to search and replace bad words with good words.<Serious Dad-frown and a pointing finger> Don't make me use it! </Serious Dad-frown and a pointing finger>
cheers Chris Maunder
Oh I see - your code isn't working because we capitalize it. If it wasn't for the extreme liberal bias exhibited by your adopted homeland, I'd offer to come up there and straighten out the rest of your code (for money of course).
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
-----
You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
-----
When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013 -
Everytime someone uses that word a kitten dies. You're a good man.
cheers Chris Maunder
-
There, their, they're... It's gotten to the point I do not care anymore X|
Within you lies the power for good - Use it!
You're doing it wrong.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
-----
You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
-----
When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013 -
You're doing it wrong.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
-----
You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
-----
When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013 -
Everytime someone uses that word a kitten dies. You're a good man.
cheers Chris Maunder
-
You speak real good. Actually I feel like that now. I can't use any of the rich, colourful terms we have in Oz becuase I just get blank stares, or worse: they just pick a random interpretation of what they think I said and go with it.
cheers Chris Maunder
"They just pick a random interpretation of what they think I said and go with it" See what you get for actually talking to users?
Software Zen:
delete this; -
Still? Didn't you learn anything from watching the burros in Oatman, PJ? :-D
Will Rogers never met me.
-
Still? Didn't you learn anything from watching the burros in Oatman, PJ? :-D
Will Rogers never met me.
PJ was in Oatman? :confused:
You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.
-
Still? Didn't you learn anything from watching the burros in Oatman, PJ? :-D
Will Rogers never met me.
-
PJ was in Oatman? :confused:
You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.
-
You speak real good. Actually I feel like that now. I can't use any of the rich, colourful terms we have in Oz becuase I just get blank stares, or worse: they just pick a random interpretation of what they think I said and go with it.
cheers Chris Maunder
-
PJ was in Oatman? :confused:
You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.
Yep! He got a wild hair up his nether orifice and took off on a road trip; ended up here and we went to Oatman to visit the wild, free-range Democrats. A good time was had by all, I hope. I certainly enjoyed it! :-D
Will Rogers never met me.