I love language. I find words and their etymology fascinating.
 
I wonder how many of the words and phrases we all use from day to day once seemed ridiculous or 'lazy', or appeared to be nothing more than contemporary 'buzz' words.
 
Language obviously evolves. Over time, slang words and phrases become mainstream and accepted, as do foreign words, technical terms, acronyms and even brand names (for instance, we all 'hoover' the carpet nowadays). At the other end of the scale, some words become archaic, and eventually obsolete.
 
I would assume all languages have similar histories (and indeed, futures) but the English language seems to be extremely fluid. It has a history not only of evolving, but of absorbing and naturalising words from other 'modern' languages, and words and phrases that have their roots deep in Latin and Ancient Greek.
 
Watching the Olympics earlier, I was amazed to learn that athletes (in this case it was cyclists) no longer 'cool down' or 'stay warm' immediately after an event. They now 'warm down'. To me that sounds all wrong - I know exactly what the process the phrase is describing is, but 'warming down' doesn't really say it properly. One might suppose that before a race, they might 'cool up'?
 
And so-called celebrity chefs have a lot to answer for. They no longer 'shallow' fry anything (as opposed to 'deep' frying) - they now 'pan' fry stuff. And they don't simply 'fry' anything anymore. No, nowadays an item of food is 'fried off'.
 
And none of these chefs and their minions 'clean' the kitchen and utensils after cooking. They don't even clean 'up' after themselves. They now clean 'down'.
 
And the one I cannot understand for the life of me is how you Americans 'could care less' about things. I'm assuming you say it to mean that really, you 'could not care less'? I mean if you 'double negative' the phrase 'I could care less' you end up with 'I couldn't care more'.
 
Or maybe (as someone once explained to me) it's that the intended meaning is implied by the inflection placed on the word 'could'? There always seems to be a slight but deliberate pause after the word - almost as if the could'nt or the could not part of the phrase is still there, but not pronounced. It's as if the phrase is knowingly uttered sarcastically - you're saying the exact opposite of what you really mean? I'd be fascinated to know if this is true, as I know it bugs the hell out of James
 
And speaking of 'bugs', the word should not be used as a generic word for all insects and other creepy-crawlies. And never (usually in the singular) to either the bacteria or viruses causing an infection. In taxonomy a 'bug' is defined as a species belonging to the order Hemiptera.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

mate - you want to try living here.

'Bring' instead of 'take' is the one that makes me want to stick knitting needles in my ears.

e.g. "Dad, can you bring me to Ashley's house'

I've noticed a change in my lifetime.

The letter 't' and the 'th' sound both seem to be disappearing from the spoken word. I thought it was just a habit among the younger generation (maybe aping the way their heroes like David Beckham, and the cast of EastEnders speak) but it now seems prevalent across the  age range.

Instead of 'this and that' we're hearing 'dis and dat'.

Or instead of 'The thick youth thought about three things' we get 'Da fick yoof fort about free fings'
 
I don't fink dat's particular clever. But who am I to say? I'm just the thucking grammar police
 
 
 
And another thing - can anyone tell me why the young and trendy people no longer type 'I texted...' but insist on the truly appalling 'I have text...'
 
 
 

I'll give you my understanding of "could care less" / "couldn't care less"-

"could care less" is being nice....you understand "them" caring and you care that they care -but you don't and don't want to talk about it.
"couldn't care less" is like one doesn't care what they care about what they're talking about and one is not going to talk about it. Period.- Ya can't care less than that.

I hear both ways here in the states and that's my take.
 
 
 
oh yeah Steve..lol...the important part...if they say- " I could NOT care less and DON'T want
to talk about it"......that's the cue to shut-up 'cause ya might get tapped on the nose. :)

Nice post Steve. Things do creep in and become part of the norm, but that doesn't stop me being eternally irritated by them. 

'Can I get'..instead of 'could I have' that really gets my hackles up..i.e. ''Can I get a can of coke?''. I always want to say, no you can't get it, the guy serving will get it for you'' 


Mind you, my Mother-in-law always asks people to 'fetch' something rather than 'bring' it, and she's old enough to know better.

It has a history not only of evolving, but of absorbing and naturalising words from other 'modern' languages, and words and phrases that have their roots deep in Latin and Ancient Greek.

A lot of Indian words in the equestrian world -  'gymkhana', 'jodphurs' 'numnah'.


Oh yes, and all those politicians with their 'first priorities'.. It's either the priority, or it isn't...


..and don't get me started on 'have' being replaced by 'of'..should of, would of, could of...I mean, please..it makes absolutely no bloody sense..stop it.

this is the joy of English - it evolves so quickly and can be mashed and distorted and yet we know what is being meant. some things do annoy me too Steve, more to do with grammar than vocabulary though...

Don't we have this debate every few days now?

I've so gotten over it by now I'm going to set this one out.

SteveStrummerUK


I've noticed a change in my lifetime.

The letter 't' and the 'th' sound both seem to be disappearing from the spoken word. I thought it was just a habit among the younger generation (maybe aping the way their heroes like David Beckham, and the cast of EastEnders speak) but it now seems prevalent across the  age range.

Instead of 'this and that' we're hearing 'dis and dat'.

Or instead of 'The thick youth thought about three things' we get 'Da fick yoof fort about free fings'
 
I don't fink dat's particular clever. But who am I to say? I'm just the thucking grammar police
 
 
 
And another thing - can anyone tell me why the young and trendy people no longer type 'I texted...' but insist on the truly appalling 'I have text...'
 
 
 

Oh Steve, don't get me started on that one. F's instead of Th's. It drives me absolutely barmy to the point of almost being unable to stop myself correcting people when I hear it. 


I grew up in Liverpool and its fair to say we have a thick accent. However we don't all talk the same and I was brought up in a home and a school where we were encouraged to enunciate our words properly. 


It is entirely possible to speak with a regional accent, use colloquial phrases and yet still pronounce each word correctly and be understood. It is these standards which are slipping that really worry me.

Garry

I'm going back to watching another of Team GB's teams podium after succesfully medalling.

Nothing wrong with that either.

So you're asking what we're really saying when we say 'could care less?'  I think I actually say just 'could care less', when I know I mean 'couldn't.'  And no, I don't pause to allow time for that silent 'n't' unless I think about it and purposely put it in.  

But don't ask me why.

Are you saying that it's mostly Americans that do these strange things with English?

I haven't heard substituting 'dis' and 'dat' for 'this' and 'that', unless their background is German.  If it's not, I'll be tempted to scream. 

Hopefully, people saying 'bring me there' rather than 'take me there' is just pre-learning how it's supposed to be said.  At least I sure hope so!  

My language has changed so much it's scary.  I no longer say 'he said' and 'I said' but 'he was like' and 'I was like,' which is so stupid actually...but it just happened.  :(