Language usage that annoys you

General discussion about learning languages
User avatar
tommus
Blue Belt
Posts: 957
Joined: Sat Jul 04, 2015 3:59 pm
Location: Kingston, ON, Canada
Languages: English (N), French (B2), Dutch (B2)
x 1937

Re: Language usage that annoys you

Postby tommus » Thu Jan 05, 2017 2:13 pm

I find "in as many years" to be very expressive and compact. If you say something more specific such as "in three years", you may be implying three consecutive years. But the events may have have occurred as three 1-year events, separated by many years. Or some people may interpret it differently. "in as many years" is very suitable-for-purpose, being a generalisation that is not meant to be too specific. I like it.
0 x
Dutch: 01 September -> 31 December 2020
Watch 1000 Dutch TV Series Videos : 40 / 1000

Cainntear
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3468
Joined: Thu Jul 30, 2015 11:04 am
Location: Scotland
Languages: English(N)
Advanced: French,Spanish, Scottish Gaelic
Intermediate: Italian, Catalan, Corsican
Basic: Welsh
Dabbling: Polish, Russian etc
x 8659
Contact:

Re: Language usage that annoys you

Postby Cainntear » Thu Jan 05, 2017 4:31 pm

tommus wrote:I find "in as many years" to be very expressive and compact. If you say something more specific such as "in three years", you may be implying three consecutive years. But the events may have have occurred as three 1-year events, separated by many years. Or some people may interpret it differently. "in as many years" is very suitable-for-purpose, being a generalisation that is not meant to be too specific. I like it.

In as many years seems pretty specific to me, clearly indicating a consecutive period.
Sorry if I've misunderstood your point.
1 x

User avatar
tommus
Blue Belt
Posts: 957
Joined: Sat Jul 04, 2015 3:59 pm
Location: Kingston, ON, Canada
Languages: English (N), French (B2), Dutch (B2)
x 1937

Re: Language usage that annoys you

Postby tommus » Thu Jan 05, 2017 5:49 pm

Cainntear wrote:In as many years seems pretty specific to me, clearly indicating a consecutive period.

Yes, having now thought about it again, I agree that it does imply consecutive. I like the expression and I see it often in print, but I don't very often hear anyone say it, unless they are reading the news, etc.
0 x
Dutch: 01 September -> 31 December 2020
Watch 1000 Dutch TV Series Videos : 40 / 1000

User avatar
Alphathon
Orange Belt
Posts: 111
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:07 am
Location: Scotland
Languages: • Scottish English (native)
• German (intermediate; ≈B1)
• Scottish Gaelic (beginner)
• Dutch (beginner)
◦ Doric Scots (passive understanding; I can’t really speak it)
◦ Hopefully some day: NDS/FY, SV, GA, CY, BR?, BSL, ES, FR?, ZH, JA, KO, ≥1 Slavic (RU?, PL/CZ?)
x 195

Re: Language usage that annoys you

Postby Alphathon » Sat Jan 07, 2017 11:32 pm

embici wrote:"On a go-forward basis" or "going forward" instead of "from now on". Those and other examples of corporate speak permeating everyday language annoy me.
Although I don't think it's very elegant, I don't really have an issue with "going forward(s)" in most circumstances and it has a slightly different connotation than "from now on", at least to me. The former implies "looking ahead (to the future)" or "this is how we are going to (make) progress" (e.g. "Going forward(s), we will be increasing our funding of wind farms"), while the latter implies that something is beginning now or that a specific change is being made (e.g. "from now on this will not be tolerated"). It is a tad over used though, and I would note that most of the "acceptable" circumstances I can think of are either corporate or political.

EDIT: It just occurred to me that the difference in implication/connotation may actually be the problem, as it can be (and probably is) used to imply progress, positivity etc when that isn't warranted. If that's the case then I agree with you.

I don't recall ever hearing "on a go-forward basis" before, but if I had it would probably annoy me much more than "going forward": I find it really ugly and it doesn't seem to communicate anything that "going forward" does not.
0 x
German/Deutsch
Der kleine Hobbit: 6 / 19
Star Trek - Das nächste Jahrhundert: 25 / 178
Scottish Gaelic/Gàidhlig
Scottish Gaelic in Twelve Weeks: 9 / 12
Speaking Our Language, Series 2: 7 / 18
Dutch/Nederlands
Duolingo: 37 / 64

User avatar
tommus
Blue Belt
Posts: 957
Joined: Sat Jul 04, 2015 3:59 pm
Location: Kingston, ON, Canada
Languages: English (N), French (B2), Dutch (B2)
x 1937

Re: Language usage that annoys you

Postby tommus » Thu Feb 23, 2017 3:27 am

Like, for those of us who "like" to criticize the overuse of "like" might "like" to look again.

Here is an interesting bit of research at the University of Victoria in Canada about the use of "like" way back in history.

Like, don't blame 'like' on kids these days, says sociolinguist
3 x
Dutch: 01 September -> 31 December 2020
Watch 1000 Dutch TV Series Videos : 40 / 1000

Tomás
Blue Belt
Posts: 554
Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2015 9:48 pm
Languages: English (N). Currently studying Spanish (intermediate), French (false beginner).
x 661

Re: Language usage that annoys you

Postby Tomás » Mon Feb 27, 2017 7:24 pm

More and more I am seeing "based off of". I have to correct this in several student papers in almost every assignment.
0 x

User avatar
Henkkles
Green Belt
Posts: 277
Joined: Thu Apr 07, 2016 2:13 pm
Languages: N FI | A EN SV | I EE RU | B FR LN
x 795

Re: Language usage that annoys you

Postby Henkkles » Mon Feb 27, 2017 7:28 pm

I watch lots of esports and the casters seem to have forgotten the phrases "so far" and "against". I think they're trying to spice their game up, but saying "thus far" every ten seconds sounds really jarring. They use "versus" for "against", which I can understand because the shorthand is "1v1", "2v2", etc. but deary me does it sound clumsy.

"They haven't thus far been able to figure out anything that would work versus the other team."
0 x

Tomás
Blue Belt
Posts: 554
Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2015 9:48 pm
Languages: English (N). Currently studying Spanish (intermediate), French (false beginner).
x 661

Re: Language usage that annoys you

Postby Tomás » Tue Feb 28, 2017 1:36 am

Henkkles wrote:I watch lots of esports and the casters seem to have forgotten the phrases "so far" and "against". I think they're trying to spice their game up, but saying "thus far" every ten seconds sounds really jarring. They use "versus" for "against", which I can understand because the shorthand is "1v1", "2v2", etc. but deary me does it sound clumsy.

"They haven't thus far been able to figure out anything that would work versus the other team."


That doesn't sound like US sportscasters. Here they don't know the grammar to make a conditional statement, and instead present their counterfactuals in the present tense. E.g.: "If Manu doesn't put so much spin on the ball, Kawhi catches it and makes the basket."
0 x

magnusragnar
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Feb 26, 2017 8:58 am
Languages: English native.
French A2/B1
x 3

Re: Language usage that annoys you

Postby magnusragnar » Mon Mar 06, 2017 10:50 am

I just submitted a thread dedicated to complaining about the formal/informal use in romance language not knowing a thread was already created for this.


Anyways, as an english native it makes me want to pull my hair out when I'm grinding through the very tedious process of learning a language, trying to speak confidently (when I feel stupid knowing i'm making mistakes all over the place) and then I accidentely use ustedes/vous with someone I already know because that's what one typically drills in assimil/pimsleur. It's so annoying by how big a deal the colleague makes of it. It weighs heavily on my "speaking confidence"
0 x

User avatar
Brian
Yellow Belt
Posts: 87
Joined: Mon Sep 21, 2015 2:28 pm
Location: Scotland
Languages: English (Native). German (fluent).
x 164
Contact:

Re: Language usage that annoys you

Postby Brian » Mon Mar 06, 2017 12:26 pm

Native English speakers who regularly mix up lose and loose.
0 x


Return to “General Language Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests