Words in the wrong context - Page 4

Cicero · 08-07-2008, 08:36 PM

For some reason I think "try and" sounds less bossy than "try to". I use both.

Maybe it all isn't about the level of literacy, and more about personal preferences like that one.

Except for SteveDallas's example of "done my homework". Now that's just odd. Maybe that's a west coast thing.

SteveDallas · 08-07-2008, 08:48 PM

Except that we live in Philadelphia!

classicman · 08-07-2008, 08:52 PM

"All the sudden" what?

classicman · 08-07-2008, 08:52 PM

I talk to a lot of people everyday and I'll just post them as I hear them.

jinx · 08-07-2008, 09:12 PM

"The car needs washed."
Seems to be a central PA thing.

Kingswood · 08-07-2008, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HungLikeJesus

And on a somewhat related note:
Who came up with the spelling of choose, chose, lose, loose?

Choose rhymes with lose (at least in American English). Chose rhymes with hose. Loose rhymes with caboose. No wonder people have trouble learning English.

You can add "loos" to the list. It's British slang for "toilets".

Pronunciations change but spellings are fossilized. Blood, flood. Great, steak, break. Vein, grey, they. There are ten or so different ways of pronouncing "ough". All these groups of words have changed their pronunciation but retained their archaic spellings.

English spelling is the linguistic equivalent of what you get when you don't cut the grass and prune the roses for a long time.

Kingswood · 08-07-2008, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jinx

"The car needs washed."
Seems to be a central PA thing.

It's also a fairly standard construction in Scottish English.

HungLikeJesus · 08-08-2008, 12:10 AM

And then there's this spelling of fish:
ghoti

monster · 08-08-2008, 12:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kingswood

It's also a fairly standard construction in Scottish English.

bollocks

as for aks/ask ... you'd be a marked target if you said ask in some areas of Detroit -it's not just an ignorant mispronunciation -it's dialect.

HungLikeJesus · 08-08-2008, 08:25 AM

The story behind "ghoti."

Urbane Guerrilla · 08-09-2008, 05:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jinx

"The car needs washed."
Seems to be a central PA thing.

I heard this sort of locution in the Navy all the time. Everywhere the Navy was.

I chalk it up to "elliptical construction."

Stress Puppy · 08-09-2008, 07:15 AM

Actually, in the area of PA I grew up in, you didn't wash a car, you warshed it. With whuter. Don't forget to check yer oal while yer at it.

Stress Puppy · 08-09-2008, 07:16 AM

Or should I say, while ya'll're at it.

Undertoad · 08-09-2008, 04:24 PM

I always check my earl. I do warsh my car... with wooder.

Lemmee ast ya this: jever go up the mall? Or down the shore?

Trilby · 08-09-2008, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Juniper

I live near Centerville, so natch, I call it "Centervul." Yes, people give me strange looks.

Kul! I live in Kettering!!!

(I know, completely out of line with this thread---sorry!)

Here's a good Appalachian word combo: writin' stick

as in, "Kin I borruh yer writin' stick?"

other faves: vomick (vomit) and swolled (swollen)

08-07-2008, 08:36 PM	#46
Cicero Looking forward to open mic night. Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: New Mexico Posts: 5,148	For some reason I think "try and" sounds less bossy than "try to". I use both. Maybe it all isn't about the level of literacy, and more about personal preferences like that one. Except for SteveDallas's example of "done my homework". Now that's just odd. Maybe that's a west coast thing. __________________ Show me a sane man, and I will cure him for you.- Carl Jung

08-07-2008, 08:52 PM	#48
classicman barely disguised asshole, keeper of all that is holy. Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 23,401	"All the sudden" what? __________________ "like strapping a pillow on a bull in a china shop" Bullitt

08-07-2008, 08:52 PM	#49
classicman barely disguised asshole, keeper of all that is holy. Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 23,401	I talk to a lot of people everyday and I'll just post them as I hear them. __________________ "like strapping a pillow on a bull in a china shop" Bullitt

08-07-2008, 09:12 PM	#50
jinx Come on, cat. Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: general vicinity of Philadelphia area Posts: 7,013	"The car needs washed." Seems to be a central PA thing. __________________ Crying won't help you, praying won't do you no good.

08-08-2008, 12:10 AM	#53
HungLikeJesus Only looks like a disaster tourist Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: above 7,000 feet Posts: 7,208	And then there's this spelling of fish: ghoti __________________ Keep Your Bodies Off My Lawn SteveDallas's Random Thread Picker.

08-07-2008, 08:48 PM	#47
SteveDallas Your Bartender Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Philly Burbs, PA Posts: 7,651	Except that we live in Philadelphia!

08-08-2008, 08:25 AM	#55
HungLikeJesus Only looks like a disaster tourist Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: above 7,000 feet Posts: 7,208	The story behind "ghoti." __________________ Keep Your Bodies Off My Lawn SteveDallas's Random Thread Picker.

08-09-2008, 07:15 AM	#57
Stress Puppy Elite Elitist Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Fresno, CA Posts: 359	Actually, in the area of PA I grew up in, you didn't wash a car, you warshed it. With whuter. Don't forget to check yer oal while yer at it. __________________ ~Stress Puppy~ Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur

08-09-2008, 07:16 AM	#58
Stress Puppy Elite Elitist Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Fresno, CA Posts: 359	Or should I say, while ya'll're at it. __________________ ~Stress Puppy~ Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur

08-09-2008, 04:24 PM	#59
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	I always check my earl. I do warsh my car... with wooder. Lemmee ast ya this: jever go up the mall? Or down the shore?

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