Page 3 of 99

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 2:24 pm
by Travis B.
Now, what English needs is a word equivalent to German Bekannte that is usable in everyday speech; the phrase person one knows and other similar forms are unwieldy, while the word acquaintance is too literary and formal for normal everyday use.

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 2:25 pm
by Alces
It's very frequent where I live to drop 'to' in 'going to' where it is a non-auxiliary verb: for instance yesterday I found myself saying 'Are you goin' Carmel College?'. I think this might be restricted to when the object is a proper noun, but I'm not sure. I have no idea how widespread this is, though I'm pretty sure it's not standard.

Also just FYI, I have the same restricted definition of 'friend' Travis and others have.

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 2:40 pm
by Jipí
Travis B. wrote:Now, what English needs is a word equivalent to German Bekannte that is usable in everyday speech; the phrase person one knows and other similar forms are unwieldy, while the word acquaintance is too literary and formal for normal everyday use.
http://zbb.spinnwebe.com/viewtopic.php?p=818955#p818955

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 2:41 pm
by Travis B.
Guitarplayer wrote:
Travis B. wrote:Now, what English needs is a word equivalent to German Bekannte that is usable in everyday speech; the phrase person one knows and other similar forms are unwieldy, while the word acquaintance is too literary and formal for normal everyday use.
http://zbb.spinnwebe.com/viewtopic.php?p=818955#p818955
Heh - the two threads have converged!

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 5:00 pm
by catberry
I've noticed myself using resumptive pronouns, eg "the numbers that you multiply them together to get 24".

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 10:51 pm
by Radius Solis
Dang, just a couple weeks ago I caught myself using a resumptive pronoun in a weird place you wouldn't expect to have to use one. It could not grammatically be omitted, which is very unusual for English. I wish to hell I could remember what that sentence was now. :( I should start saving this kind of thing.

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 11:19 pm
by äreo
I often end sentences with 'so' and occasionally with 'like', as tho to introduce a related topic or slight redundancy that needs not be said. For example: 'You don't need any candy right now. You've just had dessert, so' or 'All of his stuff had been taken. Naturally he was pissed off, like.'

I used to hold to that same exclusive definition of 'friend' but I've recently heard it used to refer to anyone you see regularly and like and/or whom you've had at least a few good conversations with. 'Buddy' and 'mate' are often used to mean that here too tho.

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 11:21 pm
by äreo
Radius Solis wrote:Dang, just a couple weeks ago I caught myself using a resumptive pronoun in a weird place you wouldn't expect to have to use one. It could not grammatically be omitted, which is very unusual for English. I wish to hell I could remember what that sentence was now. :( I should start saving this kind of thing.
Perhaps in the manner of 'things that we don't know what they are'?

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 11:55 pm
by Radius Solis
Well, I'd say that's a place you would expect to find a resumptive pronoun: subclauses of RCs are much less tolerant of such gaps than the main RC is. I feel like that the example I had was strange in a different regard, though I can no longer be certain.

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 8:52 am
by linguoboy
äreo wrote:I often end sentences with 'so' and occasionally with 'like', as tho to introduce a related topic or slight redundancy that needs not be said. For example: 'You don't need any candy right now. You've just had dessert, so' or 'All of his stuff had been taken. Naturally he was pissed off, like.'
I do that with "so". It feels unnecessary, but I can't break myself of the habit, so there must be some discourse function it fulfills.

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 9:11 am
by Viktor77
I added an <e> to Slowly thereby rendering it Slowely. It looks so much nicer with the <e>, in my opinion. I like it even though I often complain about how unphonetic this language is.

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 9:24 am
by Åge Kruger
PROTIP! Your innovative usages aren't nearly as interesting as those of other people.

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 9:27 am
by Viktor77
Åge Kruger wrote:PROTIP! Your innovative usages aren't nearly as interesting as those of other people.
Don't care. The purpose of this thread is innovative usages. Stop building hierarchies.

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 9:28 am
by maıráí
You should hear how my family abuses English. It gets really weird, sometimes.
Unfortunately, all I cna remember is when I imported a Japanese word. I forget the context, but I basically said,
"If X happens one more time, I will, like, seppuku right here."
My mom thought it was very funny.
Åge Kruger wrote:PROTIP! Your innovative usages aren't nearly as interesting as those of other people.
Ah, well, then. Fuck.

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 9:44 am
by Jipí
valiums wrote:"If X happens one more time, I will, like, seppuku right here."
I don't see how that's innovative.

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 9:46 am
by Åge Kruger
Viktor77 wrote:
Åge Kruger wrote:PROTIP! Your innovative usages aren't nearly as interesting as those of other people.
Don't care. The purpose of this thread is innovative usages. Stop building hierarchies.
Tell me what my comment means.

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 9:58 am
by Viktor77
Åge Kruger wrote:Tell me what my comment means.
You're creating a hierarchy in a thread which is designed for general use. What you said was completely unnecessary and serves to benefit no one.

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 10:41 am
by Astraios
Viktor77 wrote:I added an <e> to Slowly thereby rendering it Slowely. It looks so much nicer with the <e>, in my opinion. I like it even though I often complain about how unphonetic this language is.
An unphonetic language would have to = a language with no spoken form.

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 10:45 am
by linguoboy
Bickering ends now or else the betchslapping begins!

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 10:59 am
by Risla
I forgot to mention this before, but I went through an "amn't" phase. :P

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 11:14 am
by Skomakar'n
Travis B. wrote:Now, what English needs is a word equivalent to German Bekannte that is usable in everyday speech; the phrase person one knows and other similar forms are unwieldy, while the word acquaintance is too literary and formal for normal everyday use.
You don't have to formulate it with a noun at all. Instead of saying 'one of my acquaintances', say 'someone I know'; you don't have to say 'one of the people I know'.

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 11:23 am
by Åge Kruger
Viktor77 wrote:
Åge Kruger wrote:Tell me what my comment means.
You're creating a hierarchy in a thread which is designed for general use. What you said was completely unnecessary and serves to benefit no one.
That's an awfully long way to say "I'm unsure, please elaborate", to which I would have replied:

A doctor doesn't diagnose himself. A journalist does not interfere with events, but records them. Likewise, a linguist doesn't analyse his own speech because the potential to over-analyse or for (more relevant here) self-aggrandisement (certain people's fictiolects, etc) is great enough to interfere with the veracity of the claims. Let me know about how your neighbour's English; it's more likely to be true.

Of course, you may not see having actual, from the wild, examples as being beneficial, but I do, and I'd like to see more of them.

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 12:36 pm
by Viktor77
Åge Kruger wrote:That's an awfully long way to say "I'm unsure, please elaborate", to which I would have replied:

A doctor doesn't diagnose himself. A journalist does not interfere with events, but records them. Likewise, a linguist doesn't analyse his own speech because the potential to over-analyse or for (more relevant here) self-aggrandisement (certain people's fictiolects, etc) is great enough to interfere with the veracity of the claims. Let me know about how your neighbour's English; it's more likely to be true.

Of course, you may not see having actual, from the wild, examples as being beneficial, but I do, and I'd like to see more of them.
Oh that's what you meant. I thought you were saying that my example was inferior to others in this thread not that it was bad for me to quote myself.

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 12:39 pm
by finlay
Chuma wrote: It reminds me of a nowadays rather common construction we have in Swedish. "One each" used to be
var sin
each PRON.3PS.REFL
"each their (own)"
but was commonly misinterpreted as
vars en
(???) one
"for each, one"
which is really much more useful, because now you can also say
vars två
"for each, two"
which was previously impossible (you would have to say två var, "two each").
Is this like when people say, for instance:
"I'd like a cookie!"
"Me too!"
"Me three!"

I mean, to be fair, I usually hear it as a joke on a cartoon or something, but I get the impression that some people actually think it's "Me two!"
Of course, you may not see having actual, from the wild, examples as being beneficial, but I do, and I'd like to see more of them.
My main problem is lack of general interaction currently. I only really interact with my parents, and only occasionally with others...

Re: The Innovative Usage Thread

Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 12:48 pm
by Travis B.
Skomakar'n wrote:
Travis B. wrote:Now, what English needs is a word equivalent to German Bekannte that is usable in everyday speech; the phrase person one knows and other similar forms are unwieldy, while the word acquaintance is too literary and formal for normal everyday use.
You don't have to formulate it with a noun at all. Instead of saying 'one of my acquaintances', say 'someone I know'; you don't have to say 'one of the people I know'.
You misread my post. I meant specifically that it would be very nice to have a noun that could actually be used in everyday speech in English like Bekannte is used in German, and that existing forms like someone I know that can be used in everyday speech in English are unwieldy. I was not referring to just the exact form person one knows, but was collectively referring to all forms like it.