English Language - Queries, Quirks and Quandries

[SifuPhil]

I've seen learnt used a lot online. Instead of "I learned the hard way"...they say "I learnt the hard way".

I think in British English "learnt" and "learned" are used interchangeably, whereas in American English there IS no such word as "learnt".

 

[Ozarkgal]

Irregardless, there is no such word..just saw a news reporter use this the other day...She prolly hadn't learnt any better..lol

 

[SeaBreeze]

The girl cutting my hair one time was saying irregardless every three sentences...just bit my tongue and didn't say a word. Like the people that say I could care less, instead of I couldn't care less.

 

[SeaBreeze]

I think in British English "learnt" and "learned" are used interchangeably, whereas in American English there IS no such word as "learnt".

I guess I just have to always remember that articles online are not always written by Americans.

 

[Diwundrin]

Yeah, 'American English', well, perhaps we won't go there.

Both learned and learnt are alternative spellings of the past tense and past participle of the verb learn.

Learnt is more common in British English, and learned in American English.

In addition, there are a number of verbs of the type -ed ~ -t:

burned, burnt
dreamed, dreamt
kneeled, knelt
leaned, leant
leaped, leapt
spelled, spelt
spilled, spilt
spoiled, spoilt

All are irregular verbs.

I've always thought it fair that the spelling of English as a language is the preserve of the people who invented it, and allow them to set the rules.
Just sayin'.

 

[That Guy]

Basically, I'm like all like you know. You know? I know. Amazing . . .

 

[SifuPhil]

Yeah, 'American English', well, perhaps we won't go there.

Thou shalt not, on pain of thy garters snapping upon thy legges!

I've always thought it fair that the spelling of English as a language is the preserve of the people who invented it, and allow them to set the rules.
Just sayin'.

If I submitted (NOT "submittt") a manuscript to my editors that had any of those "T" words in them they'd cut my advances in half.

And if we were to wait for the inventors of the English language to set any more rules, we'd have an awfully long wait!

 

[Diwundrin]

Perhaps you were spoilt to believe that the knowledge spilt upon you by the teachers at whose feet you knelt was the only correct interpretation of the rules to live by.
The way words are spelt is burnt into the young psyche and leant upon as the foundation of truth, and then leapt upon as the reason to exclude other formerly undreamt of alternatives.layful:

(That may just squeeze past a UK publisher.)

 

[Warrigal]

Perhaps you were spoilt to believe that the knowledge spilt upon you by the teachers at whose feet you knelt was the only correct interpretation of the rules to live by.
The way words are spelt is burnt into the young psyche and leant upon as the foundation of truth, and then leapt upon as the reason to exclude other formerly undreamt of alternatives.layful:

:lofl:

 

[SifuPhil]

Perhaps you were spoilt to believe that the knowledge spilt upon you by the teachers at whose feet you knelt was the only correct interpretation of the rules to live by.
The way words are spelt is burnt into the young psyche and leant upon as the foundation of truth, and then leapt upon as the reason to exclude other formerly undreamt of alternatives.layful:

(That may just squeeze past a UK publisher.)

That was good, really good - I just doft my hat to you.

Language is a fluid thing, always changing, always morphing into something that isn't immediately recognized nor ultimately accepted. The risk we run in not accepting it is not being able to communicate.

But I doubt that any future wars will develop over the learned/learnt debacle.

I don't know about you, but I never knelt at my teachers' feet - there were laws against that sort of thing even way back then.

 

[Diwundrin]

I don't know about you, but I never knelt at my teachers' feet - there were laws against that sort of thing even way back then.

Calling 'Literary licence' on it... (whilst pretending to have missed the double-entendre ) ... but... yes, I do remember sitting on floors around teachers on chairs casting pearls of wisdom into our shell-like ears if that qualifies. Warri would know.
.

 

[SifuPhil]

Hmmm ... the only time I ever sat at a teacher's feet was in martial arts class, and THEN only because it was the Oriental tradition.

 

[Casper]

Perhaps you were spoilt to believe that the knowledge spilt upon you by the teachers at whose feet you knelt was the only correct interpretation of the rules to live by.
The way words are spelt is burnt into the young psyche and leant upon as the foundation of truth, and then leapt upon as the reason to exclude other formerly undreamt of alternatives.layful:

They must definitely be burnt into my psyche......I regularly spell them this way.....

 

[Pappy]

When a person is standing in a line waiting to get in a certain place, people down in the New York City area ask, Are you waiting on line. No, damnit, I'm waiting in line. If I was waiting on line, I would be sitting at my computer.layful:

 

[Rob]

The English language must be a real minefield for non-native speakers ... The prefix "in" usually denotes the opposite of something, as in "injustice" is the opposite of "justice", so, why do "flammable" and "inflammable" mean the same thing, and the opposite is "non-inflammable" ?!?!

 

[Ameriscot]

Jilly, you're correct, and I've seen loose misused a lot as well.

That one drives me nuts and it's becoming more common online!!

 

[hollydolly]

That one drives me nuts and it's becoming more common online!!

Yes I totally agree about those who use the word ''loose'' instead of the word lose when talking about actually losing something..it drives me to distraction.

I also detest the use of AkS instead of Ask which seems to be used mainly by the black community

...and after watching Judge Judy on TV and hearing so many defendants utter the word Burglarized..I was metaphorically pulling my hair out..until I discovered that it's actually a north American term for Burgled ..so I let you all off that one lol


..but the one that drives me most insane is the endemic, it would seem...use of the word ''of'' instead of Have ....arrrgggghhh I could scream!!

 

[RadishRose]

HD, how about "I could care less" when one means "I COULDN'T care less" ? I hate that one.

 

[Butterfly]

I just stumbled upon this old thread. It's a hoot! I really enjoyed it.

 

[oakapple]

Yes, it's a good old Victor Meldrew thread (One Foot In The Grave) British sit com, for those who haven't seen it.

 

[Falcon]

How about reiterate? Iterate means "repeat".

SO REiterate means repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat~~~~~~~~~~~ Well, you get the idea.

 

[Butterfly]

I've always wondered about flammable and inflammable. It seems they mean the same thing. But, for instance, soluble and insoluble mean the opposite. weird!

 

[oakapple]

Flammable and inflammable mean entirely different things, as anyone would find out if they stood too close to an open fire in a winceyette nightie! Always buy inflammable nightwear.

 

[Meanderer]

 

[OneEyedDiva]

There is a word that is mispronounced very often. There were several people where I worked that all said it the same way. I'm not sure if it was the way it was said where they came from, they learned to say it that way as a child...or what.

The word is height. It should be pronounced hit (long "I", so it's sounded like the letter "I").

They pronounce the word like heith (like the "TH" in "thanks" at the end).

I've tried to reason with a couple of them, that they should also say weith, instead of weight.

Does anyone here say height like that, do you know what I mean??

Never heard anyone pronounce the word like that Seabreeze and I've been on this earth a long time.