"Old Thing"

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Courtenay
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Re: "Old Thing"

Post by Courtenay »

KEVP wrote:
Wolfgang wrote:Don't get me started. I personally hate it if people use superlative in an inflationary way for negligibilities, especially if the subjects/achievements aren't exceptional at all.
I know. Using superlatives in that way is the worst thing ever!
Reminds me of a piece of writing advice from C.S. Lewis (I just looked up the source to make sure the quote is accurate — it's from a letter he wrote to a young American fan in 1956):
Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.
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It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
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Darrell71
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Re: "Old Thing"

Post by Darrell71 »

John Pickup wrote:Why do so many people start their sentences with "basically"? I find that annoying.
Basically it's herd mentality. ( :twisted: sorry)
Courtenay wrote:I like hate it when like people are like always putting "like" in like every sentence as like every second word, like when someone is like "and she was like 'woah!' and I'm like 'what?'" and like, you know, like that... :shock: :P
Seriously, like do they even, like understand, like how annoying it is? Like what?!
Erm nope, I actually use 'like' when speaking, although definitely not as much as in these sentences above. :lol: I use erm when writing, and eh, er, umm etc. However, I happen to be able to draw the line between casual conversation and an actual piece of writing/literature, and it's not hard to omit all those likes/ers/umms/ehs altogether. But I've noticed that a lot of young people who write very well completely undermine the quality by that kind of language. An absolute shame. (and yes.. the superlative is quite necessary here .)

What really annoys me is when people say "I should of told her." No, you should not HAVE said of instead of have in the first place. :roll:
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Courtenay
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Re: "Old Thing"

Post by Courtenay »

Darrell71 wrote: What really annoys me is when people say "I should of told her." No, you should not HAVE said of instead of have in the first place. :roll:
I think someone's shared this here before, but you just reminded me there of Word Crimes by "Weird Al" Yankovic, Sunskriti... :twisted: :wink:
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It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
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Re: "Old Thing"

Post by Daisy »

Something else I've noticed is how many people say they are "bored of..." something, when I have always assumed "bored with" is the correct phrase. I begin to doubt myself at times!
'Tis loving and giving that makes life worth living.

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Darrell71
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Re: "Old Thing"

Post by Darrell71 »

Courtenay wrote: I think someone's shared this here before, but you just reminded me there of Word Crimes by "Weird Al" Yankovic, Sunskriti... :twisted: :wink:
This is officially the best thing on the internet. I love it SO much. I can't believe I've never seen this before omg. :lol:

Daisy, I've always said bored of. :oops:
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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: "Old Thing"

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

"Bored of" is less formal than "bored with" but I wouldn't say it's incorrect.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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Courtenay
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Re: "Old Thing"

Post by Courtenay »

Darrell71 wrote: This is officially the best thing on the internet. I love it SO much. I can't believe I've never seen this before omg. :lol:
It is pretty good, isn't it? ("'Weird Al' Yankovic Has a Big Dictionary"... sounds like my kinda guy. :mrgreen: )
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It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
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Re: "Old Thing"

Post by Rob Houghton »

I think people say/write 'I should of...' because they're copying how its often said. people tend to drop the 'H' and say 'I should 'ave' which soon becomes 'of'. Its something I've never said, and hate to see it written down particularly.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: "Old Thing"

Post by Dick Kirrin »

Sorry to discuss English words and expressions with native speakers, but shouldn't it be bored by?
"You just never knew what would happen. It made life exciting, of course - but it did spoil a cycling tour!"
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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: "Old Thing"

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

"Bored by" is perfectly acceptable as well. :D
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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Re: "Old Thing"

Post by Moonraker »

"Bored of" is less formal than "bored with" but I wouldn't say it's incorrect.
That's good, Anita, as I usually say "bored of"! Out of curiosity, I found this from OxfordDictionaries.com:

Which of these expressions should you use: is one of them less acceptable than the others?

Do you ever get bored with eating out all the time?

Delegates were bored by the lectures.

He grew bored of his day job.

The first two constructions, bored with and bored by, are the standard ones. The third, bored of, is more recent than the other two and it’s become extremely common. In fact, the Oxford English Corpus contains almost twice as many instances of bored of than bored by. It represents a perfectly logical development of the language, and was probably formed on the pattern of expressions such as tired of or weary of. Nevertheless, some people dislike it and it’s not fully accepted in standard English. It’s best to avoid using it in formal writing.



I also agree with how should of has devolved from should have. We commonly abbreviate should have to should've, so we don't pronounce the 'aitch' (not 'haitch' as so many people say nowadays). Repeat this quickly several times, and you will be saying should of. Sadly, English lessons have deteriorated in schools now, that many, many children leave school without being able to speak properly.

As for starting sentences, the use of the word 'so' now seems to be endemic. Before I really get on a roll, the substitution of 'yes' for 'absolutely' now seems the norm.

*haitch must be wrong as it has a red squiggle under it; aitch doesn't.
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Re: "Old Thing"

Post by GloomyGraham »

I was amused the other day to hear that British migrants to Australia around the 1960s were confused by visitors to their house saying 'see you later' when they departed. Apparently the migrants thought that meant they were coming back in an hour or so lol
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Re: "Old Thing"

Post by Darrell71 »

GloomyGraham wrote:I was amused the other day to hear that British migrants to Australia around the 1960s were confused by visitors to their house saying 'see you later' when they departed. Apparently the migrants thought that meant they were coming back in an hour or so lol
Lol. :lol:
Moonraker wrote: We commonly abbreviate should have to should've, so we don't pronounce the 'aitch' (not 'haitch' as so many people say nowadays).
'haitch' :roll: :roll:
I pronounce the letter H as 'etch' as do most people I know. I'm not sure if it's the correct way, but anything else seems quite wrong to hear to me. :lol:
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Re: "Old Thing"

Post by Machupicchu14 »

GloomyGraham wrote:I was amused the other day to hear that British migrants to Australia around the 1960s were confused by visitors to their house saying 'see you later' when they departed. Apparently the migrants thought that meant they were coming back in an hour or so lol
Wow! But wasn't that expression used in Britain as well?
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(все, что я понимаю, я понимаю только потому, что люблю)
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Re: "Old Thing"

Post by Daisy »

Not with the meaning it now seems to have which is a very vague "see you sometime in the future I expect".
I have only become aware of it in the last ten or twenty years as a means of saying "goodbye".
'Tis loving and giving that makes life worth living.

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