Dumbing down of language...

[Peter Ward]

I guess it's just me...but when I see the media spruiking simply bad english I get really annoyed.

Take Macca's...you can buy a hamburger with "rasher bacon".

But , there is no such thing a "Rasher" bacon. A rasher is a slice, hence you can have a "rasher of bacon" .

They could offer : American, Applewood, Canadian, Irish, Pancetta, Speck, Streaky, Country, Smoked, Cured and even non -pork Turkey Bacon on your burgers. Even rashers or combinations of rashers of any of these.

But rasher bacon? Nup.

Hardly Normals want me to "shop in store". I could shop in a store. Maybe even shop in stores. Perhaps they are being literal, and want us to shop in readiness. Readiness of what?? Should I be worried???!

Lastly Australian so called so-called-sports-journalists. They inform us players are likely to "podium". Podium is a noun. Sometimes nouns can also be verbs. Like fart. The mind boggles.

[Solitarian]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

Nup.

What's a Nup? I may have skipped that English lesson

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

Talking of proper English, what's "spruiking"

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by Camelopardalis

Talking of proper English, what's "spruiking"

Originally Posted by Solitarian

What's a Nup? I may have skipped that English lesson

Guilty as charged. (but in my defense, my keyboard does seem to randomly re-map when I get excited)

"spruik" verb
1.
(intransitive) ( Austral, archaic, slang) to speak in public (used esp of a showman or salesman)

[MortonH]

I get more upset by your use of Hardly Normal's, when it should be Hardly Normal.

[rat156]

Originally Posted by Peter Ward

Guilty as charged. (but in my defense, my keyboard does seem to randomly re-map when I get excited)

"spruik" verb
1.
(intransitive) ( Austral, archaic, slang) to speak in public (used esp of a showman or salesman)

[RANT] Bloody hell Peter, it's defence, only Yanks call it defense! My Mac, bless its soul, has even underlined defense and wants to change it to defines.

Webster should have been shot at birth, he's the reason for all the -ize words, as well as why I now have to spell Sulfur without the ph, all tough some would argue that it's a recent form of the spelling anyway (the sulphur spelling). [/RANT]

It's a sign of old age, these things annoy us more and more. My current pet peeve it the designation of people (in this case always a man) who it batting for a cricket side as a "batter". Now, when I grew up, that's something that was done to fish before deep frying it. I believe the use of the term has arisen from the broadcasting of women's cricket, where it would be considered non-PC to refer to the people batting as batsmen, so the term was invented (of course it could easily be more Yank "culture" spillover). Either way I hate it with a passion. [/Immadashellandnotgoingtotakeitanymo re]

Cheers
Stuart

[creeksky (Pete)]

This is a funny thread.
My nephew's only answer with "what ever" to most things.
One day, someone new will be given all the good advice into buying a telescope.
Then answer "whateva"
re: Macca's A hash brown looks like a potato patty to me.

[omegacrux (David)]

Yes that annoys me how sports commentator's pronounce D'fence and Off'ence .

David

[MortonH]

No apostrophe required in commentators or nephews!!!

[hobbit]

languages change and evolve.

[Zaps]

How much of this dumbing down can be blamed on Australia's desperation to Americanize itself in all things and at all costs? You guys really ought to consider worshiping a god more intelligent than the USA.

[rat156]

Originally Posted by creeksky

This is a funny thread.
My nephew's only answer with "what ever" to most things.
One day, someone new will be given all the good advice into buying a telescope.
Then answer "whateva"
re: Macca's A hash brown looks like a potato patty to me.

Originally Posted by omegacrux

Yes that annoys me how sports commentator's pronounce D'fence and Off'ence .

David

Originally Posted by MortonH

No apostrophe required in commentators or nephews!!!

Agree on commentators (assuming the plural is meant in the sentence, not one commentator's use of language).

Nephew's is correct (showing the origination of the opinion, however the rest of the sentence is wrong in one way or another, I believe that the intent was to say "My Nephew answers only with "What ever" to most things".

Macca's (sic) is incorrect, as it is not an abbreviation (McD's), in which case it is a slang term and Maccas is acceptable. A hash brown still contains no hash though it may contain some brown.

Which just goes to show that even without "proper" English, one can make oneself understood, and that, indeed, language evolves. I recently had the pleasure of binge watching the HBO series Deadwood, the language used in that series is great, not at all what I expected, possibly not that real either. The cursing in the series was "updated" to modern standards as the curses that would have been used at the time were considered too passé, it worked, even with Mr Woo's only words of English.

Cheers
Stuart

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by omegacrux

Yes that annoys me how sports commentator's pronounce D'fence and Off'ence .

David

I also dislike "Debut" being pronounced as "Da-boo" ...

..I always thought it should was more like "De-bew"

Don't get me started on "What are youse doing?"

[MortonH]

Originally Posted by hobbit

languages change and evolve.

True. But when those changes are brought about simply because of widespread misuse, it's very frustrating for those of us who know how to use language properly.

[raymo]

I have sometimes wondered how far back our love affair with American terminology goes. When I arrived in Australia in 1972 many
English words had long been hijacked. Examples: English first;
Jersey - Guernsey. Halfshaft - axle. paraffin - kero[sine].
silencer - muffler. estate car - station wagon. motorway - freeway.
raymo

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by rat156

Macca's (sic) is incorrect, as it is not an abbreviation (McD's), in which case it is a slang term and Maccas is acceptable.

Cheers
Stuart

Indeed! Correct! I should stop digging at this point

[Zaps]

Originally Posted by raymo

I have sometimes wondered how far back our love affair with American terminology goes.

Australia was already very deliberately and self-consciously attempting to turn itself into "America Downunder" when I first visited a long time ago. It bemused me then and it still does now. Is there something so inherently wrong with traditional Australiana that it must be dumped in favor of Americana?

[MortonH]

Originally Posted by rat156

Nephew's is correct (showing the origination of the opinion, however the rest of the sentence is wrong in one way or another, I believe that the intent was to say "My Nephew answers only with "What ever" to most things".t

The original sentence suggests that nephews is plural, i.e. "my nephews only answer with..." You've added an "s" to "answer".

Just shows how easy it is to change or obscure the meaning of a sentence with the incorrect use of an apostrophe, yet it's the most common mistake I see every day. Apostrophes are used incorrectly for plurals and not used to indicate the possessive, e.g. people will write:

"My nephew's all went to the shops" and will also write

"My nephews new car is red".

When and why did nearly everyone start using them the wrong way round?

[UniPol]

I have noticed, particularly on television, the word "important" pronounced as "impordant" mostly by young people, that really gets up my nose along with "Australia" pronounced as " " 'Stralya " by Australian tourists overseas.

[Peter Ward]

Originally Posted by UniPol

I have noticed, particularly on television, the word "important" pronounced as "impordant" mostly by young people, that really gets up my nose along with "Australia" pronounced as " " 'Stralya " by Australian tourists overseas.

Agreed.

Even ex-PMs were not immune: hyper-bowl, Mr Rabbit, Taliband