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-   -   Commonly Misused Words (Not the Bad Kind talking Grammer WIse) (https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=158918)

Yuoaman November 23rd, 2008 3:59 PM

I learn most of my grammar from books, so I'm pretty proficient with it...

Though any word spoken by any person used to mean any thing is considered a real word. Think about it, "you" was once "ye", and even before that was "yea", words evolve over time, and new ones are always being added to speech...

That aside, one word I use at least ten times an hour is "eh?", and it has too many definitions to count XD

Ashen November 23rd, 2008 4:23 PM

That's where I got most of my grammar from: books. Though schooling does help a little bit. I mean, that's what half of English classes are for, if not for just literature.

I'm actually highly interested in linguistics, which is the study of language, so I have a book on the history of the English language. I haven't had a lot of time to read it (given all my actual schoolwork *cough*), but I'm sure there's quite a bit of change that the language has gone through to get to this point. It also doesn't help that English "steals" quite a lot of just about every form of language – it's a Romantic, Germanic, Greek, and Occidental language all at the same time.

Yuoaman November 23rd, 2008 4:26 PM

Yeah, English is basically just an amalgamation of more ancient languages, like German and Latin...

Amplified Ampharos November 23rd, 2008 4:27 PM

Well I guess I'll lighten up. Thanks guys who just posted!

kohei November 23rd, 2008 7:52 PM

I know its Japanese, but 「役不足」
While it means "something that is too easy/simple and is not fit for a particular person", there are many young people who use the word as "a task too hard and not fit for the particular person" - the complete opposite.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassino (Post 4089510)
Another mis-used word is hentai, it is Japanese for "pervert", not "anime porn". A nice modern example of how words in one language become corrupted for use in another.

Oh god pet peeve.
Though I guess this will stick with us for a long time.

Ashen November 23rd, 2008 7:58 PM

I'm assuming the reason why "hentai" is used for that purpose is because someone who is a hentai would be the person looking at it?

kohei November 23rd, 2008 8:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ashen (Post 4143792)
I'm assuming the reason why "hentai" is used for that purpose is because someone who is a hentai would be the person looking at it?

I'd suspect a perfectly healthy teenager to be looking at drawn porn too, though people may disagree with me.

Ashen November 23rd, 2008 8:12 PM

You have a very good point there. I wonder, then, why it's used colloquially the way it is.

I just remembered another thing in grammar that grinds my gears: ending sentences with a preposition. It's improper and just bad form – you actually get graded down on university papers if you end sentences with prepositions. At least, most professors will grade you down if you do that.

Mr. Pokemon November 24th, 2008 4:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ashen (Post 4143210)
Semicolon use is another thing that makes me twitch. Yes, I use them too, but I try and make sure they're in the correct spot. From what I remember, at least with my experience in Maryland schools, English teachers don't really even go over semicolon use all that much. In fact, I learned more about commas than I did about semicolons. I dunno about other places, but...

I don't remember any of my teachers teaching us about semicolons either, except for the rare times that if they were reading my report or some other written assignment, they might suggest I use a semicolon.

Zennyo Ryūō November 25th, 2008 7:57 AM

I hate it when people write "your" instead of "you're", or vice versa.


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