English Language - Queries, Quirks and Quandries

In my neck of the woods, the slang version of nervy is meant as being a person with poor manners who couldn't care less what they do or say.

Tacky is anything is very poor taste and quite gaudy.
 
I am astounded how quickly the word "forecasted" has become common place. It was always "forecast" in the past. "He forecast yesterday that we would have a beautiful day!" Am I wrong in this? Has "forecasted" always been used and I just didn't notice?
 
Murrmurr said:
I'm serious. It's fine to say someone is nervy, it's more correct to say they have nerve...you know, like, She's got some nerve, or That ingrate had the nerve to complain, She has the nerve to take risks.

Am I misunderstanding the issue?
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I totally agree. I've never even heard someone use the word "nervy". Is it even a word? Seems like anything goes nowadays.
 
Old Salt said:
I am astounded how quickly the word "forecasted" has become common place. It was always "forecast" in the past. "He forecast yesterday that we would have a beautiful day!" Am I wrong in this? Has "forecasted" always been used and I just didn't notice?
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At a guess it could be that reading is no longer an everyday occurrence. In the past books and newspapers had us all reading, from that you build up your lexicon of words and grammatical usage. Over reliance on search engines or simply copying others grammatical errors, has created grammatical blunders like forecasted. Nowadays instead of a small pocket dictionary for reference, it's the ubiquitous, omnipresence of the cell phone.
 
horseless carriage said:
At a guess it could be that reading is no longer an everyday occurrence. In the past books and newspapers had us all reading, from that you build up your lexicon of words and grammatical usage. Over reliance on search engines or simply copying others grammatical errors, has created grammatical blunders like forecasted. Nowadays instead of a small pocket dictionary for reference, it's the ubiquitous, omnipresence of the cell phone.
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I got confused because English is my second language and I have heard anchor persons and weather persons on my local channel use "forecasted" with alarming frequency! Thanks for making me feel better about my English!
 
Another thing I have noticed. Just read a few moments ago: "Lights shone in other people's houses!" I use "shone" all the time, probably because it is used so often in our hymns, but lately it has always been "shined!" Are both right and acceptable or is "shone" outdated?
 
Old Salt said:
I am astounded how quickly the word "forecasted" has become common place. It was always "forecast" in the past. "He forecast yesterday that we would have a beautiful day!" Am I wrong in this? Has "forecasted" always been used and I just didn't notice?
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Definitions from Oxford Languages ·
fore·cast
verb
past tense: forecasted; past participle: forecasted
predict or estimate (a future event or trend).
"rain is forecast for eastern Ohio"
and also:
Is it correct to say forecasted?
Explanation: Although both are used, forecast is the preferred form. Forecast is an irregular verb, meaning that its past forms don't follow the general rule of adding ed to the base. --TechTarget
https://www.techtarget.com
 
Old Salt said:
I got confused because English is my second language and I have heard anchor persons and weather persons on my local channel use "forecasted" with alarming frequency! Thanks for making me feel better about my English!
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The problem with search engines is that they rely on AI, and that artificial intelligence isn't so intelligent. What it does is pick up on whatever has been posted, you would think that if it had been programmed with a dictionary it would at least be able to cross reference any vocabulary. Not bright enough I'm afraid.

Old Salt said:
Another thing I have noticed. Just read a few moments ago: "Lights shone in other people's houses!" I use "shone" all the time, probably because it is used so often in our hymns, but lately it has always been "shined!" Are both right and acceptable or is "shone" outdated?
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Check out this thesaurus.
 
The ever changing language. This time it's pronunciations:

All my life it has has been con'tribute (con TRI bute) and all of a sudden it's CONtribute,.

Same with archipelago (Archi-'PEL-ago), it has now become. Archipe LA go! Have both always coexisted, or is this something new?
 
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Old Salt said:
The ever changing language. This time it's pronunciations:

All my life it has has been con'tribute (con TRI bute) and all of a sudden it's CONtribute,.

Same with archipelago (Archi-'PEL-ago), it has now become. Archipe LA go! Have both always coexisted, or is this something new?
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:) I've only heard 'conTRIBute' and 'archiPELago'. But often several pronunciations are correct, as in 'Caribbean' or 'advertisement'.
 
oslooskar said:
The problem with the English-speaking world is it has a written language that is a very poor representation of its spoken language.
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It is not a problem, but a feature that has evolved over many centuries. The English language includes words from many sources, and the spellings often reflect this. The spoken language also changed considerably in the 15th to 18th centuries (the great vowel shift) and so contributed to difference between the spelling and pronunciation .
 
I feel that culture is a dominant influence on the way language develops and is always changing. I had some help researching this with an AI assistant called "Pi". Here is how it explained it:

Indeed, language and culture are deeply intertwined. Language is a reflection of the culture that speaks it, and as culture evolves and changes over time, so does language.

Culture influences language in various ways, such as:

* **Regional dialects and accents**: Regional variations in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar reflect the different cultural experiences and histories of different areas.

* **Loanwords**: When a language borrows words from other languages, it shows how the two cultures interact and influence each other.

* **Slang and colloquialisms**: Slang and colloquialisms reflect the attitudes and values of a particular culture, and often change as cultural trends and fads come and go.

Language is constantly evolving and adapting to new cultural influences. For example, the use of words like "google" and "hashtag" have become commonplace in English due to the influence of technology and social media on modern culture.
 
Capt Lightning said:
It is not a problem
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On the contrary, it is a significant problem. Educators all over the English-speaking world have been trying to address it for quite some time. Take Finland, for example; the written language there is an exact representation of the spoken language. As a result, young Finnish school children learn to read much faster than their English-speaking peers, who are compelled to grapple with the irrationality of English orthography.
 
why-english-is-so-hard-poem.jpg
 

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