tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15179498.post6321345466068288623..comments2024-03-20T08:32:25.794-04:00Comments on Dept. of Nance: The Defender Of The Language Is Alerted To Internet Idiocy And Idiom Inconsistency: Bad Grammar Never Takes A HolidayNancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17627214346956206283noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15179498.post-88128913953749687182012-01-04T21:40:33.541-05:002012-01-04T21:40:33.541-05:00I agree that the video could have been better... w...I agree that the video could have been better... what's with the random doodles/scratches making it pretend to be all old-timey and rustic? And the spelling made me want to throw the computer out the window. Alas...<br /><br />You might be interested to know that the narrator of that video was none other than the Voice of Disney, Mr. Wagner. I'm friends with his grandson.Above Parallelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03735420242628766073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15179498.post-38482098911876884322012-01-03T11:44:24.440-05:002012-01-03T11:44:24.440-05:00AP & Anonymous--This video would have been far...AP & Anonymous--This video would have been far more enjoyable had it not had egregious spelling errors within it. I suppose I should be grateful that it correctly identified the parts of speech correctly, and the usage of the word thereof. How very, very ironic, however, that one of the misspellings was that of the word "incompetent!"Nancehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17627214346956206283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15179498.post-51462465931707732872012-01-01T01:45:25.329-05:002012-01-01T01:45:25.329-05:00Dear Defender of Language,
Thought you should see ...Dear Defender of Language,<br />Thought you should see this. If only you were still teaching...<br /><br />Warning! Explicit!!<br />http://youtu.be/ONIzDOzx_GE<br /><br />Sincerely,<br />Two former honors english and creative writing studentsAbove Parallelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03735420242628766073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15179498.post-21399878795921630292011-12-21T12:03:29.898-05:002011-12-21T12:03:29.898-05:00Hey, I could care less what you say.
What do you ...Hey, I could care less what you say.<br /><br />What do you think of that sentence? I hear it all the time.<br /><br />I do agree with you about the way some of our young people shorten these sayings. They have had every opportunity to have a wonderful education delivered to them by talented and dedicated professionals like yourself...<br /><br />But poor Mom came over here on the boat from Germany all by herself when she was 16 years old and picked up her English on the streets.<br /><br />If she had had the opportunity to spend just one year in your classroom I'm sure she would have known that her sayings were missing a few words that would have made them make more sense.<br /><br />Just think of all the young people who say things correctly because of your influence and interest in them.....Nancyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09426821858355153898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15179498.post-24534585339975971472011-12-21T10:23:44.508-05:002011-12-21T10:23:44.508-05:00Ortizzle--As I am constantly embroiled in Language...Ortizzle--As I am constantly embroiled in Language Defense, I do not go and see films. I will defer to Nance.--DoL<br /><br />Ortizzle--You know, I can't immediately think of any movies where this has happened although I'm sure you're right. I'm sensitive to it because I watch an inordinate amount of Costume Dramas, so if it happened in any of those, I'd be livid and ranting. Perhaps you're watching a different sort of movies than I am? In any case, maybe you should send DoL a Cinematic Language Error Alert or two and we'll get on it.<br /><br />The Bug--Please don't be so panic-stricken in the Comments section. Both Nance and I agree that Comments is a place where typos are far more common than actual linguistic errors. We therefore do not scrutinize them, and we certainly don't giggle and point at them behind your backs, metaphorically.--DoL<br /><br />Nancy--Why do you think it is such a proclivity among so many to shorten these proverbs and then use them anyway? I worry that we are becoming a sloganized civilization, hell-bent on destroying The Language.--DoLNancehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17627214346956206283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15179498.post-90288502578330287072011-12-20T15:09:53.628-05:002011-12-20T15:09:53.628-05:00@Nancy: Well, finally the mystery is solved for me...@Nancy: Well, finally the mystery is solved for me, too. I had a British flatmate years ago who used to say "Funny as a crutch" and never quite knew what it was, but chalked it up to possibly being cockney rhyming slang, a rather complex genre unto itself if you were not born into it.<br /><br />@Nance: I would like to add a subsidiary to the Defender of the Language Department: Accurate linguistic portrayal in movie scripts representing 'period pieces.' I am not referring to things which hark back to Shakespearean times, but rather this past century, especially movies made today which take place in the 60's or early 70's. I am especially sensitive to this because 1975 was when I vacated the US and proceeded to spend a quarter of a century living outside its borders. This made for a lot of adaptation on re-locating at the end of the 20th century, and I had to catch up on quite a bit of slang, buzz words, etc. And while I am a totally unreliable source for pin-pointing when these expressions came to be common parlance, I can say for a fact that in the 60's and early 70's, absolutely NO ONE said:<br /><br />—Duh!<br />—It's not rocket science.<br />—WhatEVER!<br />...and a long etcetera.<br /><br />I find this really annoying for some reason. And it's not the language per se; "translating" Shakespeare into modern language, for example, is just fine because it is understood that this is intentional. What bugs me is the Gen X-ers who don't stop to think that the language used is as specific to a generation as clothing & hair styles, and the lack of modern technology. Using expressions that were not in use at all during that time, but pretending that they were, is as jarring to me as it would be if you had someone with an ipod instead of a transitor radio or a walkman.<br /><br />What say the Defender of the Language?Ortizzlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03709991994425909880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15179498.post-48296594663193271632011-12-17T21:23:34.785-05:002011-12-17T21:23:34.785-05:00I always live in fear when I comment on one of the...I always live in fear when I comment on one of the Defender posts - I'm sure to have some error or other! <br /><br />I love how you assign hometowns to your "guests" - reminds me of Skip Carey calling Atlanta Braves games. "And that ball was caught by a loyal fan from Ashtabula, Ohio."The Bughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07509037206264761261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15179498.post-70058632858833911182011-12-17T18:34:16.043-05:002011-12-17T18:34:16.043-05:00Nance,
If Jake of New York thinks "The proof...Nance,<br /><br />If Jake of New York thinks "The proof is in the pudding" is a puzzling saying, he should have been around when my MIL was living.<br />There was a puzzle!<br /><br />Frieda was an immigrant from Germany who learned English on the streets of South Philadelphia and ended up with a few sayings that the family is only now figuring out.<br /><br />If highly amused she would laugh and say,"That's as funny as a crutch". If someone offered her something she considered excessive she would say, "I don't want that,that's about as necessary as a screen door."<br /><br />This went on for years and not one of us knew what she meant until one day I was in a diner and I overheard the fellow at the next table laugh and say "That's about as useful as a screen door on a submarine." I did a Red Skelton spit-take with my coffee when I heard that. Mystery solved! Mom obviously hadn't heard the part about the submarine when she acquired the phrase.<br /><br />About the "Funny as a crutch" saying. That,too, was cleared up by skillful eavesdropping. The expression is used sarcastically when something is not really funny. It is "That's about as funny as a rubber crutch." Mom didn't stick around for the end of that proverb either; just started using it as she saw fit and the Hell with whether it made sense or not.<br /><br />I can only assume both expressions sounded good to her.Nancyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09426821858355153898noreply@blogger.com