Speaking of coworkers who make you nuts
- Thread starter dss62467
- Start date
>How about my coworker who insists on saying "alls"--as in
>"alls I did was..." Drives me nuts!
>
>And there's a temp in my office who sits across from me and
>every three seconds has to clear his throat so long and loud.
>He's like, "eh, eh, eh, eckkkhhh, ehem". SO GROSS AND
>ANNOYING!
>
>Allison
Are you working at the same place as mine? I am thinking we are talking about same person or he has twin. We have to hear this even during our lunch. :-(
>"alls I did was..." Drives me nuts!
>
>And there's a temp in my office who sits across from me and
>every three seconds has to clear his throat so long and loud.
>He's like, "eh, eh, eh, eckkkhhh, ehem". SO GROSS AND
>ANNOYING!
>
>Allison
Are you working at the same place as mine? I am thinking we are talking about same person or he has twin. We have to hear this even during our lunch. :-(
I just remembered another one that started showing up in student papers a few years ago, the bizarre use of the phrase "being that." For example, "Being that George Washington was the first president it is only right that we honor his birthday." Not only is this awkward, but it just sounds incorrect. x(
BTW, according to the quiz I'm "Inland North" which is pretty accurate and yes I do call soda "pop", lol.
Mattea
BTW, according to the quiz I'm "Inland North" which is pretty accurate and yes I do call soda "pop", lol.
Mattea
My2girls
Cathlete
My SIL says "nummy" instead of yummy. I wish she would just say it tastes good or delicious!
As for Rachel Ray, I don't watch her but my mother is constantly saying "EVOO" as if I'm supposed to know what she is talking about. Makes me crazy! I think it is easier to say Extra Virgin Olive Oil than say the letters each time x(
Mary
As for Rachel Ray, I don't watch her but my mother is constantly saying "EVOO" as if I'm supposed to know what she is talking about. Makes me crazy! I think it is easier to say Extra Virgin Olive Oil than say the letters each time x(
Mary
RE: Speaking of coworkers who make you nuts (longwinded post)
I'm afraid I might be the lone dissenter here, but I revel in the playful flexibility of language, even to the point of celebrating mispronunciation. I look at some of my favorite writers like Joyce and Faulker who had remarkable ears for and generous responses to the way people actually spoke (just as many of you seem to have good ears). I adore malapropisms especially, and relish them whenever I find them in Shakespeare, Joyce, and even my mother-in-law. Malapropisms are funny, after all.
I say lighten up on folks a bit. Don't be such sticklers. Put your annoyance in perspective. The drive to codify the English language through the creation of dictionaries and grammars is historically recent. In fact, the insistence on "proper" spelling and "proper" pronunciation probably grew out of the middle-class free school movement of the nineteenth century in America. (In other words, the insistence on "proper" was bequeathed to us by, what some historians have called, uptight school marms). Much to the frustration of people who have a prescriptive view toward language, language is one big, baggy, evolving monster that can never be pinned down with rules, no matter how hard we try. You might as well try to catch a whirlwind. Thank God language is like this because that is precisely where its creative power lies. That said , the best practical strategy is to learn to write Edited American English and to follow the bland and standard pronunciations of news reporting (because there are some harsh judges out there in charge of jobs and money), but to go easy on other humans. They're adding color to our lives, after all.
In this connection, I love the way my Brooklyn born husband speaks. He says "arange" instead of "orange," "histarical" instead of "historical," "autharity" instead of "authority"--well, you get the picture. My Chicago born mother says "O'Hara" airport every time, and instead of Hou-ston, she says Use-ton. But I just chuckle and pray for their mercy and generosity the next time I say "dawg" instead of "dog," or "cawfee" instead of "coffee."
As an English professor, I could choose to be an unpleasant excoriator of almost every human being I meet, but what kind of human would that make me? I myself don't always speak grammatical sentences, particularly when I'm tired, frustrated, or trying to think THROUGH speaking. When some people find out I am an English professor, they fall silent and apologize for their grammar. It saddens me that many people reduce language to rules, and tremble lest they break one. This fear can keep us from delighting in the playfulness of language, from sipping its real nectar. At its heights, language can compress our deepest experiences and truths into words that reach down into the heart and transform us--and often it does so wholly indifferent to the rules.
Manmohini
I'm afraid I might be the lone dissenter here, but I revel in the playful flexibility of language, even to the point of celebrating mispronunciation. I look at some of my favorite writers like Joyce and Faulker who had remarkable ears for and generous responses to the way people actually spoke (just as many of you seem to have good ears). I adore malapropisms especially, and relish them whenever I find them in Shakespeare, Joyce, and even my mother-in-law. Malapropisms are funny, after all.
I say lighten up on folks a bit. Don't be such sticklers. Put your annoyance in perspective. The drive to codify the English language through the creation of dictionaries and grammars is historically recent. In fact, the insistence on "proper" spelling and "proper" pronunciation probably grew out of the middle-class free school movement of the nineteenth century in America. (In other words, the insistence on "proper" was bequeathed to us by, what some historians have called, uptight school marms). Much to the frustration of people who have a prescriptive view toward language, language is one big, baggy, evolving monster that can never be pinned down with rules, no matter how hard we try. You might as well try to catch a whirlwind. Thank God language is like this because that is precisely where its creative power lies. That said , the best practical strategy is to learn to write Edited American English and to follow the bland and standard pronunciations of news reporting (because there are some harsh judges out there in charge of jobs and money), but to go easy on other humans. They're adding color to our lives, after all.
In this connection, I love the way my Brooklyn born husband speaks. He says "arange" instead of "orange," "histarical" instead of "historical," "autharity" instead of "authority"--well, you get the picture. My Chicago born mother says "O'Hara" airport every time, and instead of Hou-ston, she says Use-ton. But I just chuckle and pray for their mercy and generosity the next time I say "dawg" instead of "dog," or "cawfee" instead of "coffee."
As an English professor, I could choose to be an unpleasant excoriator of almost every human being I meet, but what kind of human would that make me? I myself don't always speak grammatical sentences, particularly when I'm tired, frustrated, or trying to think THROUGH speaking. When some people find out I am an English professor, they fall silent and apologize for their grammar. It saddens me that many people reduce language to rules, and tremble lest they break one. This fear can keep us from delighting in the playfulness of language, from sipping its real nectar. At its heights, language can compress our deepest experiences and truths into words that reach down into the heart and transform us--and often it does so wholly indifferent to the rules.
Manmohini
LauraMax
Cathlete
>Oh, I'm rolling here!!! We haven't even touched the Southern
>Pennsylvanian or Maryland (aka Merlin) accents. My dad was
>born and raised in Southern Lancaster County in Pennsylvania
>(rather rural even now). He cheers for the Philadelphia
>Iggles (the football team)and thinks niny-nine is one less
>than 100.
>
>When he and mom my relocated to Maryland, I was introduced to
>a whole new local dialect. Baltimore exists as Balmer - and
>yes, it's Balmer, Merlin. If you want to catch some waves,
>you go downy ocean. I had a whole t-shirt with the different
>phrases. It was like a different language!
>
LOL Christine I grew up in the Philly suburbs (south Jersey) & I've rooted for the Iggles all my life. Now I'm in north Jersey & people accuse me of having a Pennsyltucky accent. WTH does that mean anyway?
And when I lived in MD I found the accent to be surprisingly similar to the Canadian accent. It was this bizarre mix of Canadian & Southern.
My Nana was straight off the boat from Albania, taught herself to read & write English, but got a few things wrong. She always called sandwiches "sammiches." It was so cute.
A couple other Philly indicators: wutter for water, tail for towel, the use of "yo" & "youse."
This is a fun thread.
>Pennsylvanian or Maryland (aka Merlin) accents. My dad was
>born and raised in Southern Lancaster County in Pennsylvania
>(rather rural even now). He cheers for the Philadelphia
>Iggles (the football team)and thinks niny-nine is one less
>than 100.
>
>When he and mom my relocated to Maryland, I was introduced to
>a whole new local dialect. Baltimore exists as Balmer - and
>yes, it's Balmer, Merlin. If you want to catch some waves,
>you go downy ocean. I had a whole t-shirt with the different
>phrases. It was like a different language!
>
LOL Christine I grew up in the Philly suburbs (south Jersey) & I've rooted for the Iggles all my life. Now I'm in north Jersey & people accuse me of having a Pennsyltucky accent. WTH does that mean anyway?
And when I lived in MD I found the accent to be surprisingly similar to the Canadian accent. It was this bizarre mix of Canadian & Southern.
My Nana was straight off the boat from Albania, taught herself to read & write English, but got a few things wrong. She always called sandwiches "sammiches." It was so cute.
A couple other Philly indicators: wutter for water, tail for towel, the use of "yo" & "youse."
This is a fun thread.
seeking_guns
Cathlete
RE: Speaking of coworkers who make you nuts (longwinded...
Manmohini~
With all due respect from one English teacher to another, I think you may be taking this thread too seriously. No one here is out to "excoriate" others - this thread, to me, is simply poking fun at language and how we warp it. No harm in having some fun with our pet peeves.
-Cathy
>>As an English professor, I could choose to be an unpleasant
>excoriator of almost every human being I meet, but what kind
>of human would that make me? I myself don't always speak
>grammatical sentences, particularly when I'm tired,
>frustrated, or trying to think THROUGH speaking. When some
>people find out I am an English professor, they fall silent
>and apologize for their grammar. It saddens me that many
>people reduce language to rules, and tremble lest they break
>one. This fear can keep us from delighting in the playfulness
>of language, from sipping its real nectar. At its heights,
>language can compress our deepest experiences and truths into
>words that reach down into the heart and transform us--and
>often it does so wholly indifferent to the rules.
>
>Manmohini
Manmohini~
With all due respect from one English teacher to another, I think you may be taking this thread too seriously.
No one here is out to "excoriate" others - this thread, to me, is simply poking fun at language and how we warp it. No harm in having some fun with our pet peeves.-Cathy
>>As an English professor, I could choose to be an unpleasant
>excoriator of almost every human being I meet, but what kind
>of human would that make me? I myself don't always speak
>grammatical sentences, particularly when I'm tired,
>frustrated, or trying to think THROUGH speaking. When some
>people find out I am an English professor, they fall silent
>and apologize for their grammar. It saddens me that many
>people reduce language to rules, and tremble lest they break
>one. This fear can keep us from delighting in the playfulness
>of language, from sipping its real nectar. At its heights,
>language can compress our deepest experiences and truths into
>words that reach down into the heart and transform us--and
>often it does so wholly indifferent to the rules.
>
>Manmohini
MSJ
Cathlete
RE: Speaking of coworkers who make you nuts (longwinded...
Well, I think this thread is funny:7 :+ }( . I grew up with a mom that always corrected my grammar and pronunciation--and I am greatful for that.
I have not seen this one posted: ex-scape instead of escape. (GRRRR)
And I live in Oregon (with a long o sound, accent on first syllable), not AH-regon or OreGON (accent on last syllable).
Maggie
Well, I think this thread is funny:7 :+ }( . I grew up with a mom that always corrected my grammar and pronunciation--and I am greatful for that.
I have not seen this one posted: ex-scape instead of escape. (GRRRR)
And I live in Oregon (with a long o sound, accent on first syllable), not AH-regon or OreGON (accent on last syllable).
Maggie
Sunshine 1528
Cathlete
RE: Speaking of coworkers who make you nuts (longwinded...
should of . . . (should have)
from my coworker when sending out memos from the HR dept.
Ugh !
But I am trying to combat my image of "too controlling" so just hope that my name isn't on those memos.
I am very anal and English was one of my favorite courses of study}(
Oh well . . .
should of . . . (should have)
from my coworker when sending out memos from the HR dept.
Ugh !
But I am trying to combat my image of "too controlling" so just hope that my name isn't on those memos.
I am very anal and English was one of my favorite courses of study}(
Oh well . . .
RE: Speaking of coworkers who make you nuts (longwinded...
>And I live in Oregon (with a long o sound, accent on first
>syllable), not AH-regon or OreGON (accent on last syllable).
LOL Maggie. We visited Bend last year and upon our return my SIL asked my DS who is 6 how Ahregon was. My DS kindly replied, it's not Ahregon, it is Oregon(with the long o sound). Too funny.
Lea
>And I live in Oregon (with a long o sound, accent on first
>syllable), not AH-regon or OreGON (accent on last syllable).
LOL Maggie. We visited Bend last year and upon our return my SIL asked my DS who is 6 how Ahregon was. My DS kindly replied, it's not Ahregon, it is Oregon(with the long o sound). Too funny.
Lea
