ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

Re: ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

Wren — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 08:28:04 GMT

I'd hazard a guess that it was written by one of our 'English' speaking cousins across the pond.

Re: ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 19:26:45 GMT

[quote user="Wren"]

[quote user="Rob Smith"]

or even cat that is difficult to pill!

[/quote]

Exactly. The phrase was quoted verbatim from drug company literature but I thought I should be polite and only pick one hole in it at a time.

[/quote]

You mean a cat wot's difficult to pill?

Funny thing is, we don't use pills now. Lots of tablets, but no pills.

Re: ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

Colin Cameron — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 11:53:15 GMT

[quote user="Malcolm Ness"]

I have issues with this contemporary use of "issues"

[/quote]Do you mean magazines, problems or offspring ?

Re: ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

Wren — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 11:02:20 GMT

[quote user="Rob Smith"]

or even cat that is difficult to pill!

[/quote]

Exactly. The phrase was quoted verbatim from drug company literature but I thought I should be polite and only pick one hole in it at a time.

Re: ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

Malcolm Ness — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 10:34:18 GMT

I have issues with this contemporary use of "issues"

Re: ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

Colin Cameron — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:54:41 GMT

Here's a few to get on with.

And any form of " on a ............basis" instead of the proper adverb.

And the non-word " reoccur " instead of recur

And 12pm or 12am. Both now in current use but cannot actually exist. They should be either noon/mid-day or midnight

And.......

Any more ? Come on, it's meant to be fun.

Re: ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 19:35:10 GMT

Misuse of "aggravation".

Misuse of "disinterested".

Answers in green ink on lined paper please.

Re: ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

Rob Smith — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 19:10:00 GMT

or even cat that is difficult to pill!

Re: ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

Wren — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 15:55:21 GMT

May I add my current hate: the noun 'pill' used as a verb eg. 'if you have a cat which is difficult to pill.....'?

Re: ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

Colin Cameron — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:03:33 GMT

[quote user="Niall Taylor"]Well, apart from the fact that texts over a certain length get split by the phone and sent as 2 separate messages [/quote]

Golly gosh! I didn't know that! ( I only do short messages!) Glad to see you can still keep this thread on the fun side. The language will change with both use and abuse and there is nothing we can do about it. It is just very annoying that it is abuse that is gaining as well as misuse from sheer ignorance of the correct form. Look at the wonderful command of the english language by the average inhabitant of that bit of ground across the pond.

[quote user="Niall Taylor"] I have a vision, even further back, of Anglo-Saxon nobles trying to curry favour with their new Norman overlords and at the same time complaining that 'sheep' were now being called 'mutton', 'swine' were now 'pork' and 'cows' 'beef'!

[/quote] You've got a long memory!! Were these not derived from proper words ( in foreign lingo) rather than misuse etc etc. Even our profession is derived from the latin for cattle, meaning any beast of burden ( not just the ox) I believe 'Tis all part of life's rich tapestry!

Let's keep having fun with this although I am making some serious points, I hope.

Re: ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

Niall Taylor — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 07:33:28 GMT

[quote user="Colin Cameron"]With most mobile phone contracts now giving unlimited text messages this argument should no longer be valid[/quote]

Well, apart from the fact that texts over a certain length get split by the phone and sent as 2 separate messages which is inconvenient and breaks the thread. It is annoying though to see excessive amounts of 'texty' contractions appearing in emails (tho some are quite handy IMHO).

I think (indignation aside) it is interesting to watch for signs of development in the language as a result of modern trends. "LOL" for example while originally being an email/text acronym for "[I'm] laughing out loud" is now starting to be used as a word in spoken language. My son uses it as a wonderfully dry comment on minor mishaps.

It's not that long ago (well 70 years perhaps) that brits were huffing and puffing about the influx of American words many of which are now completely accepted such as "wallpaper". I have a vision, even further back, of Anglo-Saxon nobles trying to curry favour with their new Norman overlords and at the same time complaining that 'sheep' were now being called 'mutton', 'swine' were now 'pork' and 'cows' 'beef'!

Niall

Re: ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

Colin Cameron — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 21:44:02 GMT

Equine is an adjective not a beast

Re: ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

Martin Jones — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 20:54:50 GMT

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]

I do detest people referring to equines when they mean either equids or just horses

[/quote]

Equidae? I'd also phrase that as 'either mean', as the choice is between terminologies, not between different beasts. Sorry to be pedantous.....

Re: ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

Colin Cameron — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:27:06 GMT

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]

"Myself"

Discuss.

[/quote]

Hello yourself ! The Irish, tend to call people "himself", "yourself" etc. I think it comes from the way it is spoken in gaelic. I knew a vet many years ago who always answered the telephone " Hello, me myself here"

Re: ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 00:56:50 GMT

"Myself"

Discuss.

Re: ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

Colin Cameron — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 16:20:36 GMT

[quote user="Richard Carter"]latin had been abbreviated and was reading like a txtmsg. so not very new argument![/quote]

I watched it and the reasons given was to save scribes time and to save parchment, which was very expensive, There was no suggestion of language abuse. The similarity to text nessages is that this new form of writing evolved to save space on mobile phones when each message had a very limited number of allowable characters. With most mobile phone contracts now giving unlimited text messages this argument should no longer be valid. Writing paper and e-mail space are now very cheap and I cannot see how there is any excuse for the aforementioned language abuse. Anyway, this discussion is not meant to be a serious, in depth discussion of linguistics but a light hearted look at inappropriate word usage. We all probably abuse the language innumerable times every day, so no goody two shoes allowed. Can we please get back to having a bit of fun. In my younger days whenever this topic became too deeply discussed my parents would often say in fun " good English speaked here, gooder roon' the corner" .

Re: ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

Richard Carter — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:42:58 GMT

did anyone see the program on tv about the domesday book? the latin had been abbreviated and was reading like a txtmsg. so not very new argument!

Re: ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

Colin Cameron — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 11:32:14 GMT

[quote user="bob lehner"]Language is like a living entity, constantly growing and evolving. [/quote]

I agree but it should be by use not stupid, smart-ass, politically correct misuse and abuse. A lot of it stems from children not being taught proper English in the first place. Times may change but standards must be maintained. I will continue to fight the trend for as long as I can still draw breath------so there!!

Re: ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 23:29:35 GMT

[quote user="salome2001"]

... and Evelyn, don't get me STARTED on "wimmin" ("womyn" "Womeyynn" whatever)

[/quote]

"When I'm swimmin',

with the women!"

George Formby

(Not one of his best).

Re: ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

salome2001 — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:01:02 GMT

... and Evelyn, don't get me STARTED on "wimmin" ("womyn" "Womeyynn" whatever)

Re: ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

salome2001 — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 14:59:55 GMT

[quote user="bob lehner"]

There is no point in fighting the trend. As my dear son, who read linguistics at university, never ceases to tell me whenever I complain about Essex yoof-speak , ' Language is like a living entity, constantly growing and evolving. If it did not, we would all still be speaking the language of W. Shakespeare'. Innit.

[/quote]

The must be something about doing linguistics that teaches you that as my husband who majored in linguistics keeps telling me the same. Annoys the hell out of me as a card-carrying pedant :)

Re: ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

Lucy K — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 14:52:24 GMT

Since when did "from now on" have to be "going forward"? The phrase "from now on" doesn't seem to me to be especially negative but Irish politicians have adopted this "going forward" thing in a big way. I suppose they think it sounds more pro-active. Does that make "from now on" or "henceforth" anti-active then?

Re: ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

bob lehner — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 14:42:05 GMT

Re: ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

Colin Cameron — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:38:16 GMT

[quote user="Niall Taylor"]What exactly does 'state of the art' mean?[/quote]

As we are qualified in the "Art and science of veterinary medicine and surgery" I presume that these "state of the art " practices do not employ science as they do not mention this in any of their advertisements. It should also be remembered that the "art" could actually be in quite a state!!

[quote user="Niall Taylor"]Also why do we have to 'roll something out' [/quote]

It is done to sound smart and it uses more words! This is like a lot of so-called "business speak" or politically correct terminology. It could be that these people are still using papyrus scrolls!!

Re: ADJECTIVES USED AS NOUNS

Niall Taylor — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 12:40:05 GMT

What exactly does 'state of the art' mean? Also why do we have to 'roll something out' to people instead of just telling them?

But I do like the new trend of allowing sentences to begin with 'but'. And 'and' as well; this is something we were taught never to do at school; the same as we were taught not to use too many semi-colons; but sometimes I can't help myself (same with exclamation marks)!!!

Niall

PS Rather sadly the book 'Eats shoots and leaves' is one of my favourites. There aren't many people these days who will laugh out lout at a book on punctuation but I'm one of them.