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Author Topic: Fun English foibles  (Read 5775 times)

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Offline Porter

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Fun English foibles
« on: February 13, 2008, 07:30:52 AM »
This is a thread where you can post odd/incorrect/interesting/cute/fun/whatever English formations you've heard.

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Xerxes has finally learned that "just a minute" does not mean "no".  


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Care Bear uses the word "very" in a fun way.  "I very love you."  "It very hurts."  After I've been talking with her, I sometimes find myself using it the same way."
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Offline Tante Shvester

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« Reply #1 on: February 13, 2008, 07:46:53 AM »
When my kid was five, I took him to the museum.  I told him that we could see the mummies from ancient Egypt.  After a couple of hours of schlepping around the museum, he was starting to get tired.  He told me that he wanted to go see the mummies from Ainsh now.

"The mummies from where?"

"Ainsh.  I've seen enough Egyptian mummies.  I want to see the ones from Ainsh."

"I don't know about any mummies from Ainsh.  What makes you think that there are more mummies?"

"But . . . but . . . you said!"

"I said?"

"You said that we were going to see the mummies from Ainsh and Egypt.  I've seen enough Egyptian ones.  I want to see the ones from Ainsh now."
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Offline Porter

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« Reply #2 on: February 13, 2008, 07:50:34 AM »
When Mario was a toddler and learned how to demand "cookie", we started giving him crackers and calling them cookies.  They were usually goldfish crackers.

When we went to Sea World, he'd point to all the fish and yell out "Cookie!  Cookie!"
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Offline dkw

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« Reply #3 on: February 14, 2008, 12:04:25 PM »
John's been learning to count.  Yesterday at lunch someone said "one" and he immediately responded "two."  We said, "very good, what comes after two?"  He thought for a second and answered, "Grape!"  
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Offline Brinestone

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« Reply #4 on: February 14, 2008, 12:17:11 PM »
Liam obviously thinks "other one" is a single word or idea. So he'll say things like, "other one shoe."

He also is using "it" as his one-size-fits-all personal pronoun. Where's Daddy? There it is! Where's Liam? There it is! He does use I as the subject of sentences, though: "I need a spoon," "I want more chocolate milk," etc.
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Offline Annie Subjunctive

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« Reply #5 on: May 15, 2008, 03:17:09 PM »
I find myself dropping articles when I speak English with Asian people. "I would like banana." "You will bring book?"

I have no idea why I do it. It would be more helpful for their learning if I used correct English, but for some reason I unconsciously strip down the grammar.
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Offline pooka

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« Reply #6 on: May 16, 2008, 05:35:40 AM »
Eh, they got to level up gradually, like the bosses in a videogame.
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Offline Annie Subjunctive

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« Reply #7 on: May 20, 2008, 08:43:05 AM »
Is very smart. Thank you, Pooka.
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Offline Zalmoxis

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« Reply #8 on: May 20, 2008, 09:01:16 AM »
The four-year-old uses yester + night/day or week + when we [did/saw this one thing] when telling stories.

"Remember yesternight when I was at Grandma's house and we had popsicles for dessert?"

She'll also use days or occasions or events + months. "Remember the Saturday in March when we all went to the movie?"
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Offline Jonathon

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« Reply #9 on: May 20, 2008, 09:02:43 AM »
I think it's cool to see what innovations kids come up with.
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Offline Porter

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« Reply #10 on: May 20, 2008, 09:04:19 AM »
Is the "yester" in "yesterday" or "yesteryear"  related to the word "later"?
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Offline Jonathon

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« Reply #11 on: May 20, 2008, 09:09:16 AM »
I was just wondering where yester comes form, but I can say without looking it up that it almost certainly isn't related to later. I'll go post about it in the Etymology of the Day thread.
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Offline Annie Subjunctive

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« Reply #12 on: May 20, 2008, 09:14:08 AM »
Yeah, I heard about this before in yesterthread.
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Offline Jonathon

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« Reply #13 on: May 20, 2008, 09:34:18 AM »
By the way, the OED has entries for yestereve/even/evening, yestermorn/morning, yesteryear, and yesternight. Forms of yesternight and yestereve appear to go back at least a thousand years, but it looks like the others were coined during the 1700 and 1800s.  
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Offline Porter

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« Reply #14 on: May 20, 2008, 09:38:02 AM »
I sometimes use yesterweek and yestermonth.
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Offline Annie Subjunctive

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« Reply #15 on: May 20, 2008, 09:47:24 AM »
Japanese has words for the day before yesterday and also the day after tomorrow.  And they have fun ways to do the same thing with years and weeks and months:
rai shu = next week
sa rai shu = week after next
sen shu = last week
sen sen shu = week before last
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Offline pooka

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« Reply #16 on: May 20, 2008, 11:02:03 AM »
Some arabic dialects have funny borrowings from English.  Like, they use "stock" (or the phonetic equivalent thereof) to mean "old fashioned" and "model" to mean "year."
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Offline Annie Subjunctive

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« Reply #17 on: May 20, 2008, 11:52:05 AM »
I'd like to see a book of English loan words in different languages - that would be funny. One of my favorites in Japanese is manshon, which means a small apartment complex. My companion gave me directions one day when I was practicing leading the way. "She lives in the manshon on the left."

I rode past it about 3 times. "The manshon! The manshon!" she yelled from behind.

I don't know what she was talking about. There were NO mansions in that part of town.
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Offline pooka

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« Reply #18 on: May 20, 2008, 12:06:18 PM »
Mansion always makes me think of maison.

One of the arteries through ours subdivision is Mansion House.  I just wonder where they got that, I mean, if it wasn't Joseph Smith's Mansion House in Nauvoo.
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Offline rivka

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« Reply #19 on: May 21, 2008, 10:05:55 AM »
Quote
Japanese has words for the day before yesterday and also the day after tomorrow.
Hebrew does too.
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Offline goofy

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« Reply #20 on: May 21, 2008, 10:17:11 AM »
Quote
Quote
Japanese has words for the day before yesterday and also the day after tomorrow.
Hebrew does too.
So does French.

Hindi uses the same word for both "yesterday" and "tomorrow". I'm sure many other languages do as well.
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Offline Annie Subjunctive

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« Reply #21 on: May 21, 2008, 10:21:02 AM »
What are the words in French?
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Offline Jonathon

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« Reply #22 on: May 21, 2008, 10:23:22 AM »
Isn't lendemain "day after tomorrow"? I don't remember a "day before yesterday" word.
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Offline goofy

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« Reply #23 on: May 21, 2008, 10:54:25 AM »
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Isn't lendemain "day after tomorrow"? I don't remember a "day before yesterday" word.
avant-hier: day before yesterday
surlendemain: day after tomorrow
lendemain is "the next day"

German has them as well:
übermorgen: day after tomorrow
vorgestern: day before yesterday
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Offline goofy

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« Reply #24 on: May 21, 2008, 11:43:07 AM »
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manshon
I like ????? waishatsu, from "white shirt", but it refers to shirts of any colour.
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