Is our language ruined forever?

HMHB

Outstanding Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2001
Messages
31,207
Reaction score
10,316
Points
6,319
Location
Nottinghamshire
I'm wondering if I'm in the minority as I get annoyed about the way certain things are written and spoken these days. I understand that languages evolve over years but some things are just plain wrong in my opinion :D

All over the internet I keep seeing phrases like "would of" instead of the proper "would have" and "better then" instead of the proper "better than".

Does anyone else care about this or am I just being a miserable old git?
 
Does anyone else care about this or am I just being a miserable old git?


Innit bruv.:D


No, you're not alone. Although the grammar police get short shrift on here, it does make me bite my tongue at the lack of certain basic spelling on most fora I read.
 
I think the worst is when people say 'Be Quite' instead of 'Be Quiet'. Really, REALLY annoying. Also the 'misplacement' of apostrophes, and the 'overuse' of 'inverted' commas.... Oh wait...
 
I think the worst is when people say 'Be Quite' instead of 'Be Quiet'. Really, REALLY annoying. Also the 'misplacement' of apostrophes, and the 'overuse' of 'inverted' commas.... Oh wait...

I would assume the be quiet/be quite thing to be a typo. I often type 'teh' not because I like the word, but because I am typing quickly and accidently type it that way.
 
You are not alone. I think, however, that we are on a downward spiral. Forums, chat rooms, texting and other modern forms of communication encourage people to write as they would speak and colloquial speech patterns thus become emphasised and exaggerated.

Personal pet hate: use of to instead of too
 
Why is our organic, multi-cultural, constantly-evolving way of communicating not set in stone ? Because it's organic, multi-cultural and constantly-evolving. Next question :)
 
JohnG said:
I'm wondering if I'm in the minority as I get annoyed about the way certain things are written and spoken these days. I understand that languages evolve over years but some things are just plain wrong in my opinion :D

All over the internet I keep seeing phrases like "would of" instead of the proper "would have" and "better then" instead of the proper "better than".

Does anyone else care about this or am I just being a miserable old git?

Wagwan blud. Hows it going? Chill and enjoy Xmas homie
 
I'm like ... yeah.
 
fizl said:
I would assume the be quiet/be quite thing to be a typo.

No, I sometimes see it as a constant habit, and funnily enough only by people who were born and bred here! Can't they remember simple spellings? People who i have worked with that learned English as as a 2nd language seem to make less spelling mistakes but
 
I personally can't stand text message shorthand.

h8 it. :thumbsdow
 
My pet hate is using "your" everywhere instead of "you're" (or even worse, "ur").
 
Seriously though language has always changed over time.
I'm not sure if your grievance is against this change or of the grammatical changes that follow?
Like in Blade Runner the youth will be speaking a mixture of languages in the future akin to what is happening now with this hybrid of Asian/Caribbean & English that we hear on the streets of our cities now.

Ya get me.

My pet hate is using "your" everywhere instead of "you're" (or even worse, "ur").

I remember being called posh once at a bus stop when I explained to a tourist that he should to get a bus to Tottenham garage. The accusation was aimed because I said garage in the American way as opposed to the London pronunciation of Garige!

:facepalm:
 
Last edited:
Does anyone else care about this or am I just being a miserable old git?

Probably, although I hate the use of the American word gotten. Another one is ect instead of etc.

:)
 
I've been saying for years that the English speak the worst English of any nation.
 
For all those who have never seen it before. To get best value from it, you might care to read it aloud (and, if there are other people about, probably quietly too):

The European Union commissioners have announced that agreement has been reached to adopt English as the preferred language for European communications, rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty's Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a five-year phased plan for what will be known as EuroEnglish (Euro for short).

In the first year, "s" will be used instead of the soft "c." Sertainly, sivil servants will resieve this news with joy. Also, the hard "c" will be replaced with "k". Not only will this klear up konfusion, but typewriters kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik emthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced by "f". This will make words like fotograf" 20 persent shorter.

In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of silent "e"s in the languag is disgrasful, and they would go.

By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" by "z" and "w" by " v".

During ze fifz year, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou", and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.

After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubls or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech ozer.

Ze drem vil finali kum tru.
 
Does anyone else care about this or am I just being a miserable old git?
Yes, I care about it & yes, you are a miserable old git! Which I guess makes me... ;)

As well as the demise of the word "have", as in your example, I also mourn the death of "with". It seems that more & more people are bored "of" things every day. A large quantity of something (formerly known as "a lot") also seems to have been consigned to history in favour of "alot" or "allot".

Although the grammar police get short shrift on here, it does make me bite my tongue at the lack of certain basic spelling on most fora I read.
Funny how it's somehow acceptable to pull someone up for being factually incorrect in what they say but not in how they say it. Seems to be a result of an education system that only values putting an idea across without it necessarily being well written.
 
Does anyone else care about this or am I just being a miserable old git?

j00Z R jU$7 4 9rU/\/\P'/ 0LD 917 :hiya:

But i know what you mean, Teh Mrs gets second year university students handing in papers written with text-speak. Then when she auto-failed then, got told off by the higher ups (as failing anyone is a no-no...) but won that fight. It does make the kids realise that some jobs you just have to use precise English, and buck up :lesson:
 
Seriously though language has always changed over time.
I would say language has evolved or moved forward over time, not so much changed.
But todays "changes" of would of, could of, and your instead of you're, are just utter laziness and bad teaching from the previous generation. It has nothing to do with evolution of language.
I was always corrected on my English by my family when I was young, so why don't parents these days do the same?
My eldest comes out with a ton of "Americanisms", and I always make a point of correcting her.
 
Two Black country lads sat on the canal. Clive said to Bert.. 'I caught a whale last week on this peg Bert.

Bert replied "Bluday ell mate, did yow. What did yow do with it Clive! Did yow purit back in mate.

Clive said YEAHHH.... it wernt now gud, it dint av all its spowks on it
 
My pet hate is people that use the word 'pacific' when it's clear from the context of the discussion that they really mean 'specific'
 
I must be another miserable old git because the same things annoy me. Not least because I've caught myself typing the wrong there/their/they're and I'm sure I've picked it up from the internet.

Another one that gets on my nips is a spoken one which I'm hearing more and more often. Anything/something pronounced anythink/somethink.
 
It's got nothing to do with our language being ruined.

Apart from text speak, I believe the common errors in grammar are the result of pure ignorance due to a lack of a thorough English language education.
 
I would say language has evolved or moved forward over time, not so much changed.
But todays "changes" of would of, could of, and your instead of you're, are just utter laziness and bad teaching from the previous generation. It has nothing to do with evolution of language.
I was always corrected on my English by my family when I was young, so why don't parents these days do the same?
My eldest comes out with a ton of "Americanisms", and I always make a point of correcting her.
Solar-- I do so agree with you about poor and lazy education standards in recent years. I was taught in the sixties in a secondary modern school and achieved a few 'O' levels, but nothing special.
My pet hate is the misuse of Their , there ' they're.
 
I find it annoying when language is abused by those who should know better - e.g. (and I've mentioned it once or twice before) the word barter which actually means to exchange goods or services for other goods or services (i.e. swapping) rather than cash, is often confused with bargain or haggle on TV news (esp by ITV News reporters) and programmes like The Apprentice (by the narrator)
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom