Americans, please, it’s bad enough when you slaughter Muslims and call it “Liberation” (i.e. you liberate Muslims of their mortality) but when you start to slaughter the English language, it rubs salt into my wounds.
The latest example I’m noticing with increasing frequency, and irritation, is the spurious use of the preposition “of”. Some examples follow:
“Not that touch of a choice” (in the comments)
“Not that hard of a concept” (in the comments)
The “of” is spurious. Don’t do it. Stop screwing up our language.
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It’s not that much of a deal, surely? It’s their language too (or to put it another way, “they” are part of the “we” of the Anglosphere). English (and the only reason I read your stuff is that you are not a bad user of it) is a living, vibrant thing – constantly evolving and growing.
You will probably find that there is a region (or at least a neighbourhood) of England where the “…that big of an x..” formulation is normal, so rich and textured is the variety of our islands’ speech. London-centric as you are, you just haven’t been there yet, so you assume that this is an “American” useage and “wrong.” As the major publisher of English books is now a German company that has decided to standardis(z)e on US English, you had better get used to those “wrong” useages. Even the major public schools of England started accepting them for that reason, so you are being more than usually reactionary.
If you want a society where language is (ineffectually) regulated by an “Academie” of pompous arseholes (or assholes if you prefer), try France. There’s is a beautiful language too. Your anger would sound very elegant in it. In fact, one has to wonder how they ever *get* angry, when even the word for a tax man sounds wonderful.
B^)
You’re the second person today who has suggested I sound reactionary. It must be true.
I get your point, really I do, but it’s possible to have an incredibly rich language, with huge variations, especially in English, without utterly dumping on the grammar.
Oh by the way, I do get around. A lot.
And “There’s is”? Don’t you mean “Theirs is”?
Talking of slaughter of Muslims, here in USA, Ralph and Mya’s Taking Aim broadcasts are sobering. The 3-part “The Annihilation of Afghanistan” documents in depth the extent of US barbarity. Part 1 is on 100406, Part 2 on 100420, and Part 3 on 100504. In fact all of their broadcasts are of the highest calibre.
Glad you’re back, and salaams.
wa `alaykum salaam wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakaatuh Sally
Where can I find these broadcasts, are they available on-line anywhere?
Sorry about the delay in approving your comment, AKisment routinely routes all good comments to spam and spam to my moderation queue.
Wa’alaikum as salaam Shahid —
http://takingaimradio.com/shows/audio.html
I also recommend Ralph and Mya’s 091222 broadcast — Obama and the House of Torture, Part 1: John Yoo, The Justice Department and Jose Padilla
Please let me know your impressions — kind regards.
hi, Language is living but I agree with Shaz got to have some standards. Otherwise we can’t understand the concepts. Imagine every song played in chromatic scale instead of major or pentatonic minor. It would be living and interesting but really hard to listen to.
I am not so strict on the use of English even as a UK English speaker. However, I have worked for many US companies in my life and I have to say that it frustrates me how they use US English in Europe. One person recently said to me “it’s my bad” which I thought was a US colloquial expression. It means “its my fault”. The person who used this was in a client interfacing role for the US and Europe. I think that US firms using these expressions results in UK English being corrupted – its almost like a lingual worm or virus. Also, for many types of software/hardware, when you do installations, it only gives US English as a choice which is again very frustrating for UK English Speakers: it’s like suggesting that UK English doesnt exist for the many international companies.
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