More than words
November 30th 2006 10:14
As someone who likes to write and has a love/hate realtionship with words I get slightly aggravated with people who tend to use words with little or no respect and for me the worst users of words are the Americans. I'm sorry, but it's true. They've only been around for what 230 years and they've already changed the spelling and pronunciation of many good words. The first word that comes to mind is the word buoy (pronounced b-o-y). They have hijacked this word and now apparently it's pronounced b-o-o-e-y. Despite the fact that the words buoyed, buoyancy and buoyant are not pronounced booeed booency or booyent but boid, boy-ant and boy-ency, so why the bloody hell do they say booey? The other word that throws me into a fit of hair pulling and angst is the word h-e-r-b pronounced h-e-r-b and not u-r-b. Who was the bright spark who dropped the h off of herb?
Would anyone mind if I put the 'w' back onto the end of anyhow, which seems to have been replaced recently by an 'o' ? Has the 'w' gone on leave? Or is it just the peoples minds who put this misspelling out there? Surely someone must be the head honcho of words over there, someone who decides how to spell and pronounce words. I need someone who I can write to and tear shreds off for spreading poor grammar throughout the world.
And another thing why is it that people are now changing the spelling to the US spelling? Do we live in the United States? Thank goodness we don't. A good example are the words c-e-n-t-r-e and m-e-t-r-e. Why are people now spelling them c-e-n-t-e-r and m-e-t-e-r? Center is just wrong but a meter is something that measures how much water/time/electricity I have used. I have this fantasy where when its dark and I go and correct the spelling on a sign with a paint brush or a spray can. I can't help it. Its a compulsion I have.
My next issue is people who shorten words that don't need to be shortened. Watching the local tv news tonight there was a sportsman who just had returned from a "comp" in the Phillipines. Is it too hard to say "competition"? And for years I listened to a radio announcer say "We'll be back in just a 'mo'" Don't we have enough time to say full words anymore? Would it hurt to finish a simple word? No wonder guys apparently only say 7000 words a day because we only use half a bloody word at a time. The rest we eat.
On the same subject Australians are not blameless and not to be outdone and we are well known for shortening many words and names that don't need to be shortened. We have mozzies and cozzies, there are places such as Brizzie and Tassie and good friends such as Daz and Baz (which have been conjucted even further from Dazza and Bazza). Its an argument I know I'll never win and all that can be done is watch our language slide into a perfect quagmire of poor spelling and even poorer pronunciation perpetuated by even poorer minds who continue to do it unabated.
Would anyone mind if I put the 'w' back onto the end of anyhow, which seems to have been replaced recently by an 'o' ? Has the 'w' gone on leave? Or is it just the peoples minds who put this misspelling out there? Surely someone must be the head honcho of words over there, someone who decides how to spell and pronounce words. I need someone who I can write to and tear shreds off for spreading poor grammar throughout the world.
And another thing why is it that people are now changing the spelling to the US spelling? Do we live in the United States? Thank goodness we don't. A good example are the words c-e-n-t-r-e and m-e-t-r-e. Why are people now spelling them c-e-n-t-e-r and m-e-t-e-r? Center is just wrong but a meter is something that measures how much water/time/electricity I have used. I have this fantasy where when its dark and I go and correct the spelling on a sign with a paint brush or a spray can. I can't help it. Its a compulsion I have.
My next issue is people who shorten words that don't need to be shortened. Watching the local tv news tonight there was a sportsman who just had returned from a "comp" in the Phillipines. Is it too hard to say "competition"? And for years I listened to a radio announcer say "We'll be back in just a 'mo'" Don't we have enough time to say full words anymore? Would it hurt to finish a simple word? No wonder guys apparently only say 7000 words a day because we only use half a bloody word at a time. The rest we eat.
On the same subject Australians are not blameless and not to be outdone and we are well known for shortening many words and names that don't need to be shortened. We have mozzies and cozzies, there are places such as Brizzie and Tassie and good friends such as Daz and Baz (which have been conjucted even further from Dazza and Bazza). Its an argument I know I'll never win and all that can be done is watch our language slide into a perfect quagmire of poor spelling and even poorer pronunciation perpetuated by even poorer minds who continue to do it unabated.
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