Early retirement for media phrases?

[Nords]

Funny.
It reminds me of this thing:
Guy 1: I would like to sleep with Claudia Schiffer.
Guy 2: Yeah, I bet you would.
To which Guy 1 should reply, "Yes, I just said that I would."

Reminds me of a Jeff Foxworthy routine...
"Waaaal, I'll tell you what!"
"What?"
"I just did!"

 

[ls99]

All this talk about verbs, nouns an' split infinitives sounds like y'all are talking feringi.

 

[Aruba50]

Another common expression that really gets under my skin is "had gotten" as in "I knew that my brother had gotten into difficulties as a young man". I am pretty sure that technically it is not improper but to me, it always sounds very awkward. I cannot come up with a situation where the more succinct "got" would not due the trick.

 

[rescueme]

Does anyone think that the personality that seeks and achieves ER is even remotely normal?

No way, Jose ...

 

[GregLee]

I cannot come up with a situation where the more succinct "got" would not due the trick.

"By 5 o'clock, he still hadn't gotten there." "When I arrived, I saw that he had gotten a car."

 

[glippy]

Another Vote

Another vote for "It is what it is."

Oh I can't take it anymore. It's the new LOL. People just throw it in at the end of every other sentence for the heck of it.

But what can I do? It is what it is, I suppose.

 

[Nords]

Another common expression that really gets under my skin is "had gotten" as in "I knew that my brother had gotten into difficulties as a young man". I am pretty sure that technically it is not improper but to me, it always sounds very awkward. I cannot come up with a situation where the more succinct "got" would not due the trick.

"By 5 o'clock, he still hadn't gotten there." "When I arrived, I saw that he had gotten a car."

"You'd gotten mail!!"

I think your instincts are telling you to use other verbs like "had struggled with" or "hadn't arrived" or "had bought a car".

 

[GregLee]

In this title of a recent thread, "1 out of 4 Americans have a criminal record!", the use of plural-agreeing "have" is interesting.

 

[haha]

In this title of a recent thread, "1 out of 4 Americans have a criminal record!", the use of plural-agreeing "have" is interesting.

I believe this is one of those many usages where being rule-bound is being replaced by what sounds right to people. True enough that the singular "one" is the subject, but that also implies about 75 million people, plural by any definition. For me, it is best not to concentrate on technical things like this, for likely there will be no payoff unless one is seeking acceptance by some group of old-style grammarians.

Ha

 

[TromboneAl]

I agree, but the problem is that for some "1 out of 4 Americans have a criminal record!" sounds just as bad as "He have a criminal record."

In Swedish most (all?) verbs are the same for singular, plural, etc. For example, "I are, You are, They are, We are" -- all the same. Our language (and most) have a lot of stupid rules that evolved over time.

Another smart thing in Swedish is that the apostrophe has been eliminated. For example, "Lenas bil" instead of "Lena's car." It works fine, and makes for one less mistake you can make.

 

[unclemick]

That so many ERs are fascinated by grammar is interesting. Similar to our quasi-erotic relationship with spreadsheets.

Does anyone think that the personality that seeks and achieves ER is even remotely normal?

Ha

Hmmm - NO!

Besides sanity is way overrated.

heh heh heh - especially if one is lefthanded. I never liked grammar or spreadsheets. Now take engineering graph paper! .

Plus - I think I have some no. 2 pencils somewhere in the house.

 

[Nords]

Our language (and most) have a lot of stupid rules that evolved over time.

Maybe that's why Esperanto never caught on-- not enough stupid rules to keep the Esperanto-language education industry at full employment.

 

[Bestwifeever]

The online version of our supposedly world class newspaper features a story with a headline about a "...Man Charged with Solicitating a Child." Akin to preventate, I guess.

 

[GregLee]

Sign at store: "Hel-lo" (no reason for the hypen.

There could be a reason for that spelling, if the pronunciation is supposed to be two syllables, the first ending in "l" and the second beginning with "l". That's two "l"s, while the ordinary pronunciation of "hello" has just a single pronounced "l". The two-"l" pronunciation I associate with an exclamation of surprise and consternation -- it means "What is this, now!?"

 

[steelyman]

"I've got your back"

 

[steelyman]

A bit of a dormant thread, but... I must have heard "kick the can down the road" a dozen times today.

 

[steelyman]

"Thanks so much" seems to be mandatory for all anchors now.

 

[Nords]

"Thanks so much" seems to be mandatory for all anchors now.

Among a certain segment of our island population, saying
"Oh, thank you so much!" really means
"F%^& you!!"

It's just like the Navy way of starting a letter or a message using the phrase "I view with concern" and ending it with "Warm regards".

 

[steelyman]

Among a certain segment of our island population, saying
"Oh, thank you so much!" really means
"F%^& you!!".

There's the solution! Every time I see one of those anchors saying that, I will just think they are using the island phrase. If nothing else, it should make it more amusing

 

[HFWR]

Among a certain segment of our island population, saying
"Oh, thank you so much!" really means
"F%^& you!!"

It's just like the Navy way of starting a letter or a message using the phrase "I view with concern" and ending it with "Warm regards".

And have a nice day!

 

[Chuckanut]

I am amazed at the number of people interviewed on NPR who end the interview by saying "Thank you for having me." It makes me wonder what else was going on during the interview.

 

[Animorph]

I am amazed at the number of people interviewed on NPR who end the interview by saying "Thank you for having me." It makes me wonder what else was going on during the interview.

I think "Thank you for having me" is very appropriate when the interviewee is a musician or author plugging their latest work. At other times it comes off as an honest response to having someone actually listen to their concerns. The rest of the time it seems like a way to avoid seeming too self important. "You're welcome" can sound like you just did the interviewer a favor by talking with him. Though I agree it can sound pretty over used these days.

 

[steelyman]

"...and by the way, ..."

 

[steelyman]

"Thanks so much" seems to be mandatory for all anchors now.

I've decided that CNBC's Maria Bartiromo is the worst offender. I may go to Wall Street to sneak around behind her to see if there is a string with a ring coming out of her back that, when yanked, makes her burp it out like Talkie Tina.

 

[HFWR]

I've decided that CNBC's Maria Bartiromo is the worst. offender. I may go to Wall Street to sneak around behind her to see if there is a string with a ring coming out of her back that, when yanked, makes her burp it out like Talkie Tina.

Even worse is Becky Quick's "we're watching that very closely"...