A Remedial Grammar Lesson

agnslz

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dickman45885 said:
I know this is off thread.

I am in the south right now, AL to be exact. I am from the north, and some of the southernisms are quite funny. The first time I heard, "I'm a fixin....", I asked the guy if it was broken. Another one I like is, "I'm gonna carry him to the store." I also like the plural of y'all, all y'all. I have also discovered folks down south do not push buttons, they mash them. They do not go to Wal-mart, but instead go to
Wal-marts.

I do enjoy the pace of life here....do the police issue speeding tickets? It seems to me as if there is no hurry to get anyplace, and gosh if the store clerk asks how you are doing....they want to really know.

I love the cute southern girls with the accents too, even if they are difficult to sometimes understand.

I'm a native New Mexican and would like to share some of our local ways of talking. In New Mexico we don't go to Wal-Mart, we go to Wal-Mark! Same thing for K-Mart holds true, we shop at K-Mark!:redface: We also use "coke" as a generic word for any kind of California "soda":wink:, I like Texans a little better now that I know we have that in common!:tongue: We mispronounce many words and say things the wrong way here, as well. We don't take a shower, we "throw" a shower! Sometimes our bilingualism comes through and we "throw" a "chower!":biggrin1: We also misstate things we are going to do. An example is: "I'm going to throw something at you", in our lexicon it becomes "I'm gonna throw you with something!" Spanglish or "Mexicanisms" always abound here. We have an affinity for switching from english to espanol several times in one sentence--que no?, yes, hijola man! One of my favorite local phrases is "a la vay", I use it all the time! It began as "a la verga", but that is a spanish swear word!:eek: In elementary school here we used to use it all the time. Our teachers (being mostly bilingual) knew what it meant and would warn us not to use it. Eventually we began changing it and it now has many variants. I'll list the ones I know of, and use myself, for you guys.:wink:

1. "a la verga" (the original spanish version)
2. "a la vay" (my favorite and the one I use most)
3. "a la vagers" (sounds like pagers and the long version of #2)
4. "a la maquina" (maquina means machine or device in spanish)?
5. "a la mowdies" (I think my family came up with this one)
6. "a la dick" (a more literal spanglish version of the original spanish
meaning)
7. "a la, man!" (used to indicate disgust, surprise, or amazement with
someone)
8. "a la" (shortest and most universally used version)
9. "ooh a la" (used when you're really pissed off or fed up with someone's
actions or deeds)

Some more examples of the meaning of "a la verga" are: "a la chingada" (made famous by Cheech and Chong) and "que va", which basically mean "too much" of, or amazement (disgusted amazement as well) with something or someone. More examples of our mispronunciations are: "installation" for insulation, "winchilled" for windshield and "brrohway" for broadway. We also mispronounce city names. Chicago sounds like "Cheecahgo", Grand Rapids is "Grain Wrappie", and Wichita is "Weeshitah" or "Wishitah"!:redface: It's amazing that we can switch the pronunciations for Wichita and shower isn't it!:biggrin1: We just can't pronounce "sh" and "ch" sounds for the right words, I guess! I'm a Hispanic (Mexican-American) and I've forgotten most of the spanish I grew up with, but these things about New Mexico always amaze me and make me happy with our bilingualism!:smile:

On point, I'd say to all of you, please have mercy on those of us who aren't yet on your level of understanding the english language and it's grammar! I am fluent in english and am a third generation American, but I still don't know all the intricacies of these things!:redface: I got straight D's in almost all of my English classes throughout my life.:biggrin1::rolleyes::redface: Give us a bit of a break. OK? Please!:smile:
 

Matthew

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GoneA said:
Hey - no fair. I didn't point out that you spelled "adverbial" incorrectly.

*pushes Matthew's head down slowly*

D'oh!!! Busted!

*takes it balls deep*
 
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Yaay! So much interest in grammar! Perhaps there is hope for the world after all.

I was the only kid in my high school English classes who knew anything about grammar because I went to Catholic elementary school and apparently the public school kids never had to diagram sentences or anything. In ninth grade the majority of my classmates had no idea that the difference was between a noun and a verb, and when I took German, the poor teacher had to teach English grammar first before teaching the German equivalent.
 

B_Stronzo

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Well bignfloppy I guess it's all relative to the individual. It's been an instructive thread.

I went to public school for the first 5 years of my schooling and we surely learned how to diagram sentences and grammar was a high priority. When I entered preparatory school it was even more essential everything we handed in was grammatically and structurally accurate. We were graded on composition and grammar equally to content.

And my prep school was about as far as you can get from a Roman Catholic parochial school.
 

GoneA

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There's also been a steady decline in the quality of both public and parochial schools. That alone has been a contributing factor to the poor grammar usage (amongst other things) that you've witnessed.
 

B_dxjnorto

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Sometimes I get supposably for supposedly. Supposed is kind of a strange word. It seems like some kind of common syntax is trying to make this work, but it doesn't.
 

b.c.

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bignfloppy said:
Yaay! So much interest in grammar! Perhaps there is hope for the world after all.

I was the only kid in my high school English classes who knew anything about grammar because I went to Catholic elementary school and apparently the public school kids never had to diagram sentences or anything. In ninth grade the majority of my classmates had no idea that the difference was between a noun and a verb, and when I took German, the poor teacher had to teach English grammar first before teaching the German equivalent.

While I would not be among those inclined to dismiss the importance of the written language, especially since most every word I write is usually weighed and calculated for its particular effect, I'm not about to get all giddy over myself just yet either.

No doubt I've committed my own fair share of grammatical faux pas here, like most everyone else. And sometimes the rules are bent deliberately so, to achieve a certain mood...for effect. English like many other languages is a "living language" in that the meanings of words, the usage of them in communication, even the timing and rhythm of words (where and when they are used) - all are continuously "evolving". IMO, creativity in writing sometimes comes from the bending (and even breaking) of rules.

Not to mention the fact that we have people here who are from different cultures, different countries, different socioeconomical environments. So what if some words are misspelled, or the wrong words used?

Besides, do we not celebrate diversity: cultural diversity? religious diversity? ethnic diversity? diverse sexuality? Certainly we have room for all, don't we?

It "bees" that way sometimes.



"Y'all gon' make me lose my mind up in HERE, up in here" (DMX)
 

Fireballs

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Wonderboy said:
The funniest thing is I read this title as 'A Remedial Guitar Lesson'
Okay.

----1----1----1----
----1----1----1----
----1----2----3----
----3----3----3----
----3----3----3----
----1----1----1----


An F minor, an F major, and an F suspended fourth.

Pecker said:
Ahem. "If DMW were here he'd tell you (that) you're wrong."

Heh heh :tongue:
More verbs should have distinct subjunctive tenses!
 

Heather LouAnna

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bignfloppy said:
I was the only kid in my high school English classes who knew anything about grammar because I went to Catholic elementary school and apparently the public school kids never had to diagram sentences or anything.
I went to private Christian school from Pre-K to freshman year of highschool. That's ten years folks. When i finally went to public school in Sophomore year, I was greatly surprised at how stupid everyone seemed to be in scholastics. I only lasted a year in public highschool, before I decided to just homeschool with Texas Tech, so I could work at my own pace and graduate early.
 

DC_DEEP

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Another couple of my favorites: currently v. presently, and farther v. further.

Currently means right now, this exact moment. Presently means a short time after currently. "There's not much to see on this trail currently, but presently we will have a spectacular view of the valley."

Farther means a greater distance, and is the comparative of "far." Further means additional, more, or advance/assist. "I live 3 miles away, and Jim lives 2 miles farther." "Further investigation will be necessary." "You have to go father (that extra mile) to further (advance) your career."

Far, farther, farthest - you can use those, and they are related. Further stands alone, you don't have "fur, further, and furthest (or even worse, I have heard furtherest...)
 

Lex

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What about continually versus continuously?!?


Continuously should be used when something happens repeatedly without ANY interruption, ever.

The Earth continuously rotates on its axis and revolves around the sun.

Continually should be used when something happens for prolonged periods and to a marked degree, but that may have briefs breaks in between occurances.

The pistons continually forced power into the new car engine as Speed raced around the track.

Shades of meaning, Gotta love it.
 

arktrucker

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oldman9x7 said:
I used to get into trouble by ending sentences with a proposition, like, "I'm pleased to make your acquaintance - want to fuck?"

I get so fractured by our local newsrag because they invariable mess up the use of "a" and "an". As I recall, "an" is used before words beginning with a vowel, otherwise use "a". Examples" an ape, an elephant, a man, a bear, etc.

BTW Years ago when I was living below the M/D Line, Cokes, Pepsi and others all came under the name "sody".

Gramps

And anywhere on the west coast. In the midwest it's pop.
 

B_Stronzo

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speshk said:
"Each to their own."

:wink:

"to each his own":wink:

dxjnorto said:
Sometimes I get supposably for supposedly. Supposed is kind of a strange word. It seems like some kind of common syntax is trying to make this work, but it doesn't.

You've hit on my current pet peeve.

I don't see how "supposed" is a strange work.

"Asserting his supposed authority, Fred Phelps managed again to make a perfect ass of himself."

It's pronounced properly "sup pose ed" each syllable is pronounced.

Nearly without exception everyone's using the improper "supposably" now.

The word "supposably" does not exist in any acceptable usage of our native tongue.

I heard Charles Gibson use it on the nightly news recently too.

The proper word is supposedly and nothing else.

Thanks for bringing this one up dxjnorto.