Misuse of words

[Bazile]

What misuse of words do you frequently hear .

I have just heard someone state that they 'writ' it down - instead of 'wrote' it down

[boxtops]

I've just looked it up, ummm, and perhaps it's not, perhaps it's dialect - but I've often heard it used (and used it) as you say you do.

[Mosaic]

The Haitch - as opposed to aitch - is a tribal shibboleth (oh look it up) especially in northern Ireland. Country dwellers ie catholics said haitch, city boys ie protestants said aitch.
So being stopped by a gang and asked how you spelled hospital was usually a prelude to ending up in one.

[ayabrea38]

Wonders will never crease!
No wonder my brother laughed at me-I was only six at the time though

[mccfluff]

using borrow and lend the wrong way round

[lcg]

too many to mention....i may always use lower case, but i think my use of the english language is pretty tight. i do hate spelling mistakes, improper use of punctuation and text-speak/chav language. it drives me nuts! x

[craft1948]

Agree fluff..................The Lenders isn't quite right.

[Mick-Talbot]

I'll Fetch the beer .........not slagging it, that's proper that is.

[mike11111]

Mosaic's post reminds me of my childhood when sectarianism still lingered in my part of the world. Gangs of kids would surround a hapless loner and demand, "Are you catholic or protestant?" The test was to say The Lord's Prayer. Protestants would say, "Our Father, WHICH art in heaven..." whereas catholics would recite, "Our Father, WHO art in heaven..." Depending upon which group you fell in with, this would either earn you a smack or you would be let go. Thankfully those days are long gone.

[FredPuli43]

Mrs Thatcher called the 'wets' in her party 'frit'. She's famously from Grantham, so it must be used in that area of Lincolnshire too.

"The moving finger writes, and having writ, moves on...' is Fitzgerald's rendering of a line of the Rubaiyat. The form 'having written' wouldn't have fitted but 'writ' does show a currency in correct, if archaic or poetic, English in his day.

'Emulate' for 'equal' or 'copy' confuses me. I think of it as meaning 'to strive to rival (but not equal)' so 'he is emulating the world record holder' when 'he' has equalled the world record time, seems odd, as does ' she is emulating (a star)' when 'she' is someone who just happens to look like the star.

[mike11111]

"Mrs Thatcher called the 'wets' in her party 'frit'."

Not so, it was the Labour leader, Neil Kinnock, whom she described as "frit".

[cupid04]

Mr.c gets rattled when people say Ibeetha instead of Ibiza!

[FredPuli43]

Fair enough, Cupid.How is he with 'Ma-yorker' ? This trying to sound like foreigners is not British. What true Briton attempts to say Vlissingen instead of 'Flushing', or tries to say Scheveningen at all (it's worthwhile asking a Dutch speaker to say it, and then standing back in amazement) ? And as for 'Paree'...

[MarkRae]

> when people say Ibeetha instead of Ibiza!

What does he think they should say, then? eye-BEEZ-ah?

[baza]

I think its stuck up people who try to pronounce words as per the locals when abroad then do the same when their holiday is over. the letter Z is not th in english otherwise the four legged animal in pyjamas would be a thebra.

[sandyRoe]

When talking about what was on at the local cinema I used to say 'coming cometractions' when I meant 'coming attractions'