Evolving English language.............

[Bob Wright]

Listening to the news on my local station (WMC TV Channel 5) I am hearing a few things, speechwise, that sort of grate on my ears.

First is the plural for house. All of my life I've heard it pronounced as how-zes. Of late TV reporters are saying house-ez. Not sure where or when that got started, but certainly not a local affectation.

And referring to a particular group of items, its now these ones. What was wrong with the old these.? Now its these ones and those ones. So far there has bee no them ones.

Anybody got a comment?

Bob Wright

 

[graygun]

The 'ez' ending seems more familiar to my recollection.

 

[Fox Mike]

Per dictionary it should be "house iz", ie a soft 's'.

 

[Bob Wright]

Then what is that tube on the lower right side of your barrel? Is it the "ejector rod howzing" or the "ejector rod house-ing?"

Bob Wright

 

[graygun]

howzing

 

[gasbag]

I live in a single house so I have no idea.

 

[Kevin]

"Those ones" has always driven me crazy.
I'm not sure why people want to pluralize "one."
But yeah, I can't stand "these ones" and "those ones"

 

[Bud0505]

Shouldn’t it be them there?

 

[Bob Wright]

Shouldn’t it be them there?

No. Correctly, its "em air." As in "Em air shells shore shoot hard."


And, old joke:

A dentist used the air gun to clean out a cavity he had just drilled.

Dentist: "Did you feel that air?"

Patient: "That air what?"

Bob Wright

 

[Bull Barrel]

Dem der?
How about "you uns"?
For me its always been house es.

 

[volshooter]

This is a tourist destination and I hear a lot of things not spoken like we pronounce them. Quite often when helping out of towners with directions I have to ask them to repeat what/where their looking for to give them directions. That is normal from folks from up north and we do the best we can to help.
I too notice folks on the TV saying words that don't match English that I know.
I reckon it might come from urban areas where z's are added. I don't know fer sure but it is getting harder to understand folks that ain't from around here.
A feller might just have to move deeper south.

 

[nvbirdman]

I always took the easy way out and said homes.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Some folks puts the emPHASIS on the wrong syllABLE.

:wink: :mrgreen: :wink:

 

[Pat-inCO]

The two that drive me nutz are the excess use of "like" when there is not a
comparison, and the use of noun and immediately pronoun (John Elway he).

LIKE . . . has been discussed on/in several threads so I'll not go further.
It's the (to me) idiocy of defining the subject you are talking about, TWICE
before you say anything about it. :roll:

I wish that were the worst problem we had to contend with.

 

[Bob Wright]

I always took the easy way out and said homes.

A home is what one puts into a house.

During WW II, a soldier and his family were momentarily stranded in the train station. One evening a passerby saw the little boy and asked:

"What's the matter, Son? Don't you have a home?"

The little boy's reply: "Yes, Sir. We have a home, we just don't have a house to put it in."




Bob Wright

 

[Colonialgirl]

One I keep hearing in TV ads :
DiaBEATEASE relief.

 

[roarindan51]

"First is the plural for house."..... no it's not.!!!!

not any more than "what rimes with orange?"

 

[Bob Wright]

"First is the plural for house."..... no it's not.!!!!

not any more than "what rimes with orange?"

No, no. "Nothing" rhymes with orange."

Bob Wright

 

[Selena]

Then again, if language didn't evolve we wouldn't have English to worry about evolving anyway. I wonder what the Sanskrit word is for "computer?"

 

[WMB30]

Is it you know, you no or uno ? Said by some at least five times in a fifteen word sentence.

Bill

 

[Colonel Daddy]

It amazes me how often we hear, even on the TV News, the word "fer" is used instead of "for". Watch and listen for it! Educated people speaking on a publicly viewed medium cannot properly pronounce the simple word "for". Also people constantly misusing four, for, 4 fur. And as an after thought.....ho and whore :twisted: But over time things change........even languages.

 

[Pat-inCO]

Just had one on TV. The talking head was relating new traffic problems
and said "Traffic on the (pick a name) is completely blocked" (as we could
see one lane of traffic going by) and the idiot said "Except for the Right
lane".

Completely blocked except for . . . :roll:

To me, that's "Traffic is down from four lanes one".

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

My mother was death on using proper grammar, and "those (or these) ones" would drive her up a wall. As would the use of "less" when "fewer" is correct. Best I can remember her 'splainin' the difference is that "less" is used for something that can be measured, "fewer" for something that can be counted: fewer cattle produce less beef.

Then. right after correcting us on something we'd said, she'd be off to "warsh" the clothes, or maybe squeeze some popular SoCal or Florida fruit to make "oy-ange" juice...

Rick C

 

[Pat-inCO]

Then. right after correcting us on something we'd said, she'd be off to
"warsh" the clothes, or maybe squeeze some popular SoCal or Florida
fruit to make "oy-ange" juice...

My mother had one similar to that.
In referring to plexiglass, it was always Pepsi-Glass.

 

[Busterswoodshop]

How about when someone says aks instead of ask.

 

[Colonel Daddy]

^^^^^^^^^^^^ This! Axe me, just axe me and I'll tell you! :twisted:

 

[Ka6otm]

How about when someone says aks instead of ask.

In my experience, it means they're from the ghetto or spend a lot of time around people from the ghetto.

 

[prairieviper]

I don't consider the news media a reliable source for news, let along grammar. :mrgreen:

 

[roylt]

I'm slowly turning into the "old" guy at work and never went to college but the "kids" coming in with 2, 4, or more year degrees sure have a different way of talking.

The worst for me is when I go to the school for parent teacher conference etc. My kids, that learn some from me, talk better than 50% of the teachers there!!

Before long it will all be text language. Or worst.

 

[mike campbell]

It's been a couple of generations since we lost the distinction between "your" and you're." I've even seen it on billboards...."Your going to love these prices!"