Language fails that make you angry

[zoobyshoe]

Actually quite a bit of universities (and remember the qualifier: educated foreigners) around the world teach their courses in English. Learning two language (English being particularly popular as a second) is just part of the culture for many western countries outside the U.S., it's not so much about being "drawn to". But most of them learn it later (like after 7 or so).

Good point. I was thinking only in US terms.

And it's not about creative or flexible; It's about sticking to the formal rules. In fact, a native English speaker might be more flexible and have a better idea of context and slang and just plain social slurs ("ya'll yump to and warsh my clothes" is very much an American dialect. You will not hear very many people learning English as a 2nd language using that kind of dialect). Yet, in much of the US, it's socially acceptable to break the rules (ebonics comes to mind).

The article you linked to made the claims I quoted. They weren't talking about linguistic flexibility, per se, but:

...the multilingual shows superior performance in handling complex and demanding problem-solving tasks when compared to monolinguals. They seem to be able to have an advantage in handling certain thinking processes," March continues.

The point I take from that being that the mere ability to speak coherently in a foreign language, not necessarily to pass for a native of Arkansas or the Bronx, makes a person a better thinker and problem solver. According to them.

Some foreigners will do better on an English test than the average American, for sure. What I was saying is that the meme that all of them will is not true in my experience. A lot of educated foreigners have studied English for years and still make wacky grammar mistakes. What you are saying, that many will do better because they stick to the rules and don't adopt the "flexibility" of the average American, is also true.

That's not universal either, though. I've met a lot of foreign exchange students and they are often determined to pick up every bit of slang and natural American speech they can. They want to fit in with the Americans their age.

 

[netgypsy]

I lived and worked out of the US for a couple of years and have the greatest respect for anyone who lives in the US and is not a native English speaker. I made some really dumb mistakes.

By the way, you don't say "quite a BIT of Universties", as BIT means a small single piece of. Like I'll have just a little bit of that dessert. You can say quite a number of , quite a few or just SOME or many universities.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

the clans that banned together

http://news.yahoo.com/fact-checking-debate-iowa-024602587.html
They meant the clans that banded together.

 

[DaveC426913]

"...per say..."

 

[lisab]

http://news.yahoo.com/fact-checking-debate-iowa-024602587.html
They meant the clans that banded together.

I didn't procrastinate at laughing at that.

 

[netgypsy]

it made sense the first time (clans that banned together)

 

[Dembadon]

it made sense the first time (clans that banned together)

While its use in the article still yields a grammatically correct sentence, I don't think it fits the context of the statement.

 

[netgypsy]

darn - I liked it better than banded

I was shopping in a hardware store in a Spanish speaking country and asked for plastic manure instead of plastic wood. When I got some really strange looks I realized my error and probably turned all shades of red.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Past time for pastime. Found it here.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/economy-bad-many-crushing-millennials-163558817.html

 

[russ_watters]

More a science issue than a grammar issue, but I was just at a conference on energy conservation and one speaker kept saying kW instead of kWh. It's like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.

Another one that appears to be getting worse is "there".

 

[Andre]

In that same ballpark is "calories". Food of such and such calories. 200 calories is bad 100 calories is better.

But it's not calories, it's kilo calories. But we should go metric and talk kilo Joule.

 

[turbo]

Many people confuse "less" with "fewer", and it bugs me to see news-readers on the TV make that mistake.

 

[WannabeNewton]

This one is so pervasive and it absolutely drives me insane: the use of your instead of you're when appropriate.

 

[Andre]

your kidding Don't lose you're wit.

 

[jtbell]

the use of your instead of you're when appropriate.

I have to admit that's one plus for text-speak, which would be "yr" either way.

 

[WannabeNewton]

your kidding Don't lose you're wit.

hulk smash!

 

[WannabeNewton]

I have to admit that's one plus for text-speak, which would be "yr" either way.

Text speak is so simple yet so powerful

 

[turbo]

Text speak is so simple yet so powerful

How does it handle "there", "they're", "their", and other problems? I want to deal with such misuse, but am unable, due to the sheer volume of errors.

English is probably a tough language, but look at Borek's posts. He writes better than most native-speakers!

 

[JizzaDaMan]

have the greatest respect for anyone who lives in the US and is not a native English speaker.

Care to mention England perhaps? Where English IS the native language.

 

[Andre]

...

It looks like you spelled "Da" wrong.

 

[Curious3141]

"I could care less" which really means "I couldn't care less."

"I could care less" is an ironic (sardonic) phrasing, which is quite acceptable to me. If anything, it emphasises utter disdain even more than the literal phrasing.

 

[vela]

"I could care less" is an ironic (sardonic) phrasing, which is quite acceptable to me. If anything, it emphasises utter disdain even more than the literal phrasing.

I disagree.

http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/care.html

 

[Evo]

I disagree.

http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/care.html

True, the correct saying is "I couldn't care less". It's a put down meaning "I don't give a damn."

The mistaken "i could care less" isn't a put down, it means "I do care" and it's just people hearing and repeating the correct phrase wrong.

 

[Fredrik]

In that same ballpark is "calories". Food of such and such calories. 200 calories is bad 100 calories is better.

But it's not calories, it's kilo calories.

This isn't entirely true. There are two kinds of calories, "gram calories" and "kilogram calories". The former is the energy it takes to heat 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celcius. The latter is the energy it takes to heat 1 kilogram of water by 1 degree Celcius. Since "kilo" also means 1000, what one person calls "100 calories" can be "100 kilocalories" to another, because the first person means "100 kilogram calories", and the second person means "100000 gram calories". So they can actually both be right, because the same name is used for two different units.

 

[Fredrik]

True, the correct saying is "I couldn't care less". It's a put down meaning "I don't give a damn."

The mistaken "i could care less" isn't a put down, it means "I do care" and it's just people hearing and repeating the correct phrase wrong.

I think Curious meant that some people are saying it wrong on purpose.

We have a few phrases like that in Sweden. One phrase that was popular about 15 years ago is "hur bra är det på en skala?" which translates to "how good is that on a scale?". When I first heard it, I thought the people saying it had to be complete idiots. Obviously, you have to specify the scale, like "how good is that on a scale from 1 to 10?". But I soon discovered that people who use this phrase understand this. They think it's funny precisely because it doesn't make sense.

Of course, there's an important difference between this and "I could care less". The difference is that no one really uses the logically correct question.

 

[Fredrik]

This one is so pervasive and it absolutely drives me insane: the use of your instead of you're when appropriate.

People don't seem to realize that most of these errors are typos, not evidence of poor grammar. The words that are the biggest problem for me are "its" and "it's". I understand these words perfectly, and yet, every time I need to type one of them, there's a 50% probability that I'll end up typing "its", and a 50% probability that I'll end up typing "it's". My brain imagines the sound of the word, and then my fingers type one of the words that sound like that, before I have even realized what I'm doing.

There is however no excuse for "should of" instead of "should've" or (better) "should have".

 

[vela]

I think Curious meant that some people are saying it wrong on purpose.

Some people might, but in my experience, most people say "could care less" because they don't know any better. As far as the claim of irony goes, it just doesn't work.

People don't seem to realize that most of these errors are typos, not evidence of poor grammar.

Perhaps for you they're typos, but I think for most, the error stems from ignorance. If they were simply typos, I doubt the use of it's to mean its would be so prevalent.

 

[Evo]

Some people might, but in my experience, most people say "could care less" because they don't know any better. As far as the claim of irony goes, it just doesn't work.

Anyone that says "could care less" on purpose, knowing it's wrong (are there really any?) don't realize what they're actually saying. There is no irony, it's just plain wrong and so makes the speaker sound silly.

 

[Andre]

"I don't give a damn."

Not a single damn was received by anybody that day.

 

[FreeMitya]

-None of them "are" and neither of them "are". "None" literally means "not one" and "neither" means "not the one nor the other". My friends laughed at me for saying this. Luckily, I had my OED in my backpack and got the last laugh.

-After getting into the habit of not ending sentences with prepositions, people doing the opposite has started to annoy me. People mixing up pronouns gets on my nerves as well. However, doing these when speaking is more excusable than doing them when writing.

-Using words incorrectly, obviously.

Our beautiful language is precious and needs to be defended!

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Frankly my dear, I could care less.

 

[Fredrik]

-After getting into the habit of not ending sentences with prepositions,

Why? Just to irritate people?

 

[FreeMitya]

Why? Just to irritate people?

I'm a perfectionist. To me, rules are rules, and I will follow them to the best of my ability. Note that I usually won't obnoxiously correct someone unless I'm deliberately trying to irritate a family member or a close friend. It is just a fairly minor annoyance.

 

[turbo]

I get peeved when people can't manage to use "less" and "fewer" correctly. It's not rocket-surgery! This is a common error in our local newspaper, so apparently the editors haven't a clue.

 

[ImaLooser]

I read a history book that mentioned "they were loosing the battle."