Do You Notice "Contrived" Wording?

Midpack said:
If anyone could definitively predict why "at" works better than "in" or "of" right now (what works now may not appeal to ego in another time), they'd be a marketing billionaire on Madison Ave.
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You don't think they already have cadres of marketing folks figuring out just that?
 
REWahoo said:
Dad gum, I'm durn glad you figgered out a way to not let them funny soundin words be a burr under your saddle. Now skedaddle on outa here fore the hogs getcha...:)
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Don't get me started .... :D
 
Nemo2 said:
Possibly due to the 'presumption' that whatever wording has become associated with the hoi polloi is therefore infra dig for the parvenues. :LOL:
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Dearest Nemo.

One need not employ the definite article "the" before "hoi polloi", as "hoi" means "the" (plural) in ancient Greek. Additionally, I believe that the plural of parvenu does not take an "e".

Yours in pedantry,

Gumby
 
Amethyst said:
I understand why it's done. The mental mechanics puzzle me, though. I don't know why these particular phrases are used. Why is it somehow more desirable to be "at" a development, than "in" it or "of" it?
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In this case, probably an advertising gimmick. But there are some grammatical rules for it ( found by google ). No wonder is english is so difficult....

Use at, when the place is considered or visualized as, or situated at, a point location (as when at long distance from the speaker):

I'll meet you at the drugstore.
I arrived at Denver at midnight because my flight was late.

Use in when the 3-dimensionality of the place is of concern or significance (as when specifying the inside rather than the outside):

I was supposed to meet her at the corner, but I found her in the drugstore.
I've never been in Denver before.

At vs In - Common Mistakes and Confusing Words in English - Learn English Mistakes
 
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Midpack said:
But have you at least integrated ya'll into everyday conversation yet?
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Yip, and in Louisiana I quickly learned that "y'all" is singular and "all y'all" is plural.
 
Yip, yup or yep? I always thought yup was more common to the south and yep more often heard in the northeast. Yip I don't rightly know.
 
Gumby said:
Dearest Nemo.

One need not employ the definite article "the" before "hoi polloi", as "hoi" means "the" (plural) in ancient Greek. Additionally, I believe that the plural of parvenu does not take an "e".

Yours in pedantry,

Gumby
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Much appreciated....us autodidacts delight in knowledge......parvenu it is.

Lynch, Guide to Grammar and Style — H

The big controversy about hoi polloi in English — the sort of thing that raises blood pressures to dangerous levels — is whether you should say “the hoi polloi”: hoi already means the, so “the hoi polloi” means “the the many.” Then again, people have been saying “the hoi polloi” for as long as they've been using the expression in English (since 1668, says the OED). Besides, we say “the La Brea Tar Pits,” even though that means “the the tar tar pits.” And the al at the beginning of many English words derived from Arabic — alcohol, alchemy, algebra — originally meant the, but no one finds “the alcohol” redundant.

I don't have good advice on this one. Dropping the the runs the risk of sounding pedantic; leaving it in runs the risk of sounding illiterate.
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A veritable minefield.
 
antmary said:
Every one of those "Towne Homes" has a junk drawer...just sayin'
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See, that's why they are better than my house, here in the Cozy Homes of Frugal Vista. I re-arranged my kitchen to make it more ergonomic, and now it unfortunately has [-]two[/-] three junk drawers.

:ROFLMAO:

As a bona fide resident of south Louisiana, I don't even dare get into the discussions of proper English.... yep, don't dare.
 
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Please, it's JUNKE drawers.

To me contrived wording is mostly laughable, sometimes a negative, never a positive.
 
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Oh good gosh, you mean there are proficiency levels? With milestones, a special exam, and a Board who determine whether one is ready to advance? This is starting to sound like Work!

A.

REWahoo said:
There is such a thing as being curmudgeonly, and then there are those who are simply a PITA... :LOL:
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GrayHare said:
Please, it's JUNKE drawers.

To me contrived wording is mostly laughable, sometimes a negative, never a positive.
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Not Junque drawers? Maybe throw in a random accent mark?

PS: Maybe it's just something I noticed recently, and it has stuck with me, but it seems I keep hearing the servers at more upscale (or trying to appear upscale) restaurants using the phrase 'as well' instead of 'too', or 'also'.

And would the lady care for some more wine as well?

-ERD50
 
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These contrived neighborhood names don't bother me at all. It makes me feel a little more content living in my rusted out single wide, when all my neighbors across the street (in the new phase of the development) live in much nicer rusted out double wides.

By the way, to the operators of the forum, can we remove the word "retirement"? It is so low class that us gentlepeople of leisure would be retiring from something. It implies that we had to work at some point instead of living a life of pure leisure.
 
FUEGO said:
It is so low class that us gentlepeople of leisure would be retiring from something. It implies that we had to work at some point instead of living a life of pure leisure.
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Friends of ours were laughing at a line from, I believe, Downton Abbey, (we've never seen the show so I can't be certain)........it appears that there's one character, a lawyer, who states that "He can visit next weekend", (since he has to work during the week), to which an old dowager asks perplexedly "What's a weekend?"
 
Nemo2 said:
Friends of ours were laughing at a line from, I believe, Downton Abbey, (we've never seen the show so I can't be certain)........it appears that there's one character, a lawyer, who states that "He can visit next weekend", (since he has to work during the week), to which an old dowager asks perplexedly "What's a weekend?"
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Yes, Downton Abbey quote.

To even acknowledge that you understand the concept of a week-end shows that you at least associate with the lower classes.
 
Amethyst said:
Actually East Nowhere sounds romantic to my ears, like it belongs in Narnia.
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the Pines at East Nowhere do exist :cool:

Those trees were knee high when I moved into this house back in 1984. The previous owners had planted them. In many ways, their growth has served as a gauge for my life here. It's all good. :)
 

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