The Innovative Usage Thread

[linguoboy]

My cellphone is pretty archaic. I use it for accepting calls (I don't call anyone if I can avoid it unless it's my best friend) and texting, but I'm one of those weird people who texts in full words in grammatical sentences

I'm the same, and this is having an effect on which words I choose. For instance, I've notice that I used phrasal verbs less than I would in speaking or even typing from a desktop computer. If a particle adds little in terms of semantic content and is mainly there to "soften" a command or otherwise make an utterance less abrupt, I'll simply drop it, e.g. "Invite him too" rather than "Why not invite him along?" If there's a one-word equivalent and it's shorter, I may prefer that even though it's slightly higher register, e.g. "I rejected all offers" instead of "I turned down all of their offers" or even proper to another dialect, e.g. "Who's minding the baby?" instead of "Who's looking after the baby?". Depending on the recipient, I may even switch languages, e.g. "Ich bin gleich da" (or even "I be glei do") for "I'll be right there". (As a bonus, that's another apostrophe I don't have to type!)

So far, I haven't noticed this bleeding over into my speech, but then I'm much more consciously aware of my diction when typing as opposed to speaking.

[finlay]

Ah. My cellphone doesn't have auto-correct.

That's a rarity these days. I found I started understanding my friends' garbed texts and posts much better after I'd played around with an iPhone for a while.

one of my favourites is "new Zealand" or "new York" as it will capitalize the part that is obviously a name but keep "new" the way they typed it. I turned off autocorrect pretty quickly when i got my phone because i like the irreverent air of not capitalizing stuff, but then when it came out on the iphone i started using Swype, which obviously autocorrects a lot and defaults to capitalized stuff, so i end up with weird results like the above.

[Travis B.]

On my tablet, when I use it, I just have autocorrect turned off, as I waste less time in simply typing more carefully than having to go back and change everything it autocorrects incorrectly; I would rather have occasional errors in typing rather than whole words changed to things entirely different from what I intend.

[Pole, the]

I don't use autocorrect and that's why:

[Zaarin]

I don't use autocorrect and that's why:

That is exactly my phone, except mine is a red LG.

[alynnidalar]

This isn't a mobile device thing, it's an any-electronic-means-of-communication thing for me, but for some odd reason, I use "y'all" in chats and on forums all the time. This is weird because in spoken English, my second person plural pronoun almost exclusively "you guys", and I live in Michigan where very few people say "y'all". I have no clue when/where I started using it, but I noticed it a couple of months ago.

I'm not sure if it's possibly a register thing for me? My Skype chat English is extremely informal to begin with, so maybe my brain is like "y'all = relaxed, informal"?

More on the topic of mobile devices, though, I have a tendency to mangle English spelling for comedic effect in certain places (such as the aforementioned very informal Skype chats), but never on my phone, because it's just way too much effort to get autocorrect to NOT fix it. If I've been typing on my phone a lot, I do have a tendency to forget that normal computers don't have autocorrect (resulting in a LOT of backspacing because on my phone I don't put any effort in to spelling things correctly because it'll fix it for me) and that I can't hit the spacebar twice to get a period.

I also use punctuation very differently on my phone. I use more than you might expect (although not a ton of periods), but I think I use it in different ways than in handwriting/typing on a computer. Plus a limited use of emoji. I mean, why text "lol!" when you can just text the crying-with-laughter face?

[Zaarin]

This isn't a mobile device thing, it's an any-electronic-means-of-communication thing for me, but for some odd reason, I use "y'all" in chats and on forums all the time. This is weird because in spoken English, my second person plural pronoun almost exclusively "you guys", and I live in Michigan where very few people say "y'all". I have no clue when/where I started using it, but I noticed it a couple of months ago.

I'm not sure if it's possibly a register thing for me? My Skype chat English is extremely informal to begin with, so maybe my brain is like "y'all = relaxed, informal"?

More on the topic of mobile devices, though, I have a tendency to mangle English spelling for comedic effect in certain places (such as the aforementioned very informal Skype chats), but never on my phone, because it's just way too much effort to get autocorrect to NOT fix it. If I've been typing on my phone a lot, I do have a tendency to forget that normal computers don't have autocorrect (resulting in a LOT of backspacing because on my phone I don't put any effort in to spelling things correctly because it'll fix it for me) and that I can't hit the spacebar twice to get a period.

I also use punctuation very differently on my phone. I use more than you might expect (although not a ton of periods), but I think I use it in different ways than in handwriting/typing on a computer. Plus a limited use of emoji. I mean, why text "lol!" when you can just text the crying-with-laughter face?

Huh, I'm used to being able to have an idea of where someone is from by their preferred second person plural. Mine is "you guys," with irregular second person possessive "you guys'." I have a habit, from the first forum I joined, of abusing the crap out of the tongue smiley--but that's probably not a bad thing, given that at least half the internet has no sarcasm detector and I'm rather sarcastic...

[Vijay]

I've been conflicted for the longest time about which second person plural pronoun to use, and for this reason, I just avoid using one at all and just say "you" instead when possible (which is actually pretty often). I don't even remember what people used in Cleveland or St. Louis, maybe "you guys"? Indians often use "you people," which is a nice calque from Hindi/Urdu tum log but of course doesn't sound so nice in US English. And here, people say "y'all." It's really only now that I'm starting to use "y'all" more often, probably switching away from stuff like "you guys" and "both/all of you."

[Travis B.]

My second person plural pronoun is you guys, but I should note that my second person plural possessive determiner is your guys; you guys' and especially you guys's sound quite unnatural to me, even though there are many NAE varieties where indeed one of these is the second person plural possessive determiner.

[Viktor77]

My second person plural pronoun is you guys, but I should note that my second person plural possessive determiner is your guys; you guys' and especially you guys's sound quite unnatural to me, even though there are many NAE varieties where indeed one of these is the second person plural possessive determiner.

Holy carp, I just learned something new about myself reading your post. I apparently also say your guys and even your guys's, though I would never say you guys('s). That one sounds almost AAE to me.

FWIW I'm from Michigan and I also use y'all but then for me it was a completely conscious choice because I liked the efficiency of it. I probably didn't take it from Southern English as much as from AAE, though, since I grew up around AAE speakers (I catch myself using habitual be quite a lot). And I only use it when I put an effort into using it.

[Vijay]

I'm exactly the opposite. I used to say you guys and you guys's, and your guys' honestly sounds funny to me. I'm tempted to interpret it as implying that the addressee has minions or multiple husbands, or else the speaker is referring to the addressee's gang of friends or something.

[alynnidalar]

Now that I'm thinking about it, of course, I can't remember which I say, but I think I say your guys's for the possessive.

In many contexts, you as a plural pronoun is flatly ungrammatical for me. At work, because I work with a number of overseas/ESL people, I deliberately try to move closer to Standard American English. As part of that, I try to use "you" instead of "you guys" (I'm always concerned that it'll confuse someone not familiar with the phrase, or that they'll find it rude/too informal or something), but sometimes, it just feels so wrong.

[Viktor77]

This English grammar book gives the example of a mid position adverb as "Things will very soon start to improve." To me this isn't in itself wrong but it does not sound like the most natural order to me which would be the final position, "Things will start to improve very soon." However if they just used "soon" I could see it as a mid position adverb. What do you all think?

*Edit* Nevermind this last edit.

[Vijay]

I see that as slightly unusual but not that much. Maybe I'm too used to non-native English, though.

[Yng]

seems fine to me, if marked

[Nortaneous]

y'all's

[Vijay]

y'all's

I remember this grad student from Louisiana who deliberately used "y'all" in an e-mail even though apparently he doesn't use it himself but having no idea how to make a possessive out of it. This is the way I do it.

[Pole, the]

Y'alls's guys's!

[Vijay]

Hahahahahaha Y'allyinzr's guypeoples's!

[Magb]

Another adverb ordering thing: I watch the NBA a lot, and I've noticed commentators and other people in the NBA world use the word just in a way that was previously unfamiliar to me. In a game that was on yesterday I heard color commentator Doug Collins say "He's just not a shooter" in the sense of "He's not only a shooter (because he also does other things)". Another (invented) example would be something like "They just can't wait around for the ball", where I would expect "They can't just wait around for the ball". The first example is the most striking one to me because without context I previously would've expected the only possible reading to be "He's not a good shooter", but I've heard these constructions so often now that my perception has changed. For the record he was referring to Stephen Curry, who most assuredly is a good shooter.

Is this widespread in American English and I've just never noticed it until recently? Could it be an AAVE thing? Doug Collins from the example is white, and I feel I hear white commentators do this just as often as black ones, but African-Americans are effectively a majority in the NBA world so I think their usage often rubs off on white people as well.

[linguoboy]

Is this widespread in American English and I've just never noticed it until recently?

FWIW, this is totally unfamiliar to me. I don't hear much AAVE, however, or SAE influenced by it.

[Viktor77]

Another adverb ordering thing: I watch the NBA a lot, and I've noticed commentators and other people in the NBA world use the word just in a way that was previously unfamiliar to me. In a game that was on yesterday I heard color commentator Doug Collins say "He's just not a shooter" in the sense of "He's not only a shooter (because he also does other things)". Another (invented) example would be something like "They just can't wait around for the ball", where I would expect "They can't just wait around for the ball". The first example is the most striking one to me because without context I previously would've expected the only possible reading to be "He's not a good shooter", but I've heard these constructions so often now that my perception has changed. For the record he was referring to Stephen Curry, who most assuredly is a good shooter.

Is this widespread in American English and I've just never noticed it until recently? Could it be an AAVE thing? Doug Collins from the example is white, and I feel I hear white commentators do this just as often as black ones, but African-Americans are effectively a majority in the NBA world so I think their usage often rubs off on white people as well.

The first one is weird as far as I can tell (perhaps if I head it on a TV in the given context I wouldn't bat an eye). The second one sounds fine. The "just" can go either place.

[Vijay]

I think this sounds vaguely familiar to me for some reason, like something I've barely begun to notice myself, but I guess whenever I hear it, I don't give it much thought; I just assume it's some kind of dialect construction I'm not personally familiar with.

[Sglod]

Here in Britain, we tend to use 'you lot' or, more commonly, just 'you'. However my friend, who has lived in the country all his life, tends to use 'you guys' instead... I like to use 'you lot' when talking to one person just to confuse them...

[Magb]

The first one is weird as far as I can tell (perhaps if I head it on a TV in the given context I wouldn't bat an eye). The second one sounds fine. The "just" can go either place.

You don't feel that the second one could be read as "It's impossible to wait around for the ball"? I agree the first one is by far the weirder one. There's a chance I misheard him.