We're busy losing the adverb. I blame sporting commentators.
"Get it in quick," they say.
Quick is an adjective, for goodness sake. It doesn't describe "get."
The word you're looking for is QUICKLY! An adverb. That is: a word used to describe the verb. Often ending in -ly.
"How should we get the ball in?" "We should get it in QUICKLY."
When should I correct my speech impediments? Immediately!
And while we're bitching about parts of speech, about nouns becoming verbs, and vice versa....
An invitation is not an "invite" — if I intend to invite you [verb] then I will send you an invitation [noun].
And if you want to invite me, then send me a noun too. A thing. Not a bloody verb. Sending a verb makes no bloody sense.
I don't care what your bullshit bit of software wants to call it: it's an invi-bloody-tation.
Can we get that sorted, please?
Ta.
And by the way, "disconnect" is a verb.
The noun you're looking for is DISCONNECTION!
"We have a disconnection between forwards and backs."
"We have a disconnection between politicians and citizens."
"We have a disconnection between parts of speech and people who know how to bloody use them."
Sort yourself out.
And what about "kids."
A child is a child. The plural is children. Kids? Kids are baby goats.
Sure, you can use the English verb “kid”with the meaning “to treat as a child.”
But the noun, kid, is a baby goat.
Show some respect. These little people are children, for Galt's sake!
And here's another one: "momentarily."
"Momentarily" doesn't mean in a moment. It means for a moment. There's a difference. "He paused by her door for a moment" —which means he paused momentarily, and then "in a moment he would knock" – which means he would knock very soon. See the difference? He wouldn't knock momentarily, 'cos that would mean he'd only knock for a moment.
You know, it's really not difficult.
We could also talk about misnomers, like so-called" reality TV," which is nothing like real life; or so-called artificial intelligence, which is clearly not intelligent (a triumph or marketing that); or a Bitcoin not being an actual coin (another triumph of marketing over reality). But it's not the time, is it.
So: Any other language crimes you abhor?
6 comments:
"Drive Safe" is my pet hate.
Along with "Go slow".
When I went to school, the past participle of got was got, not gotten. Further, I remember a teacher had all these signs around the room with alternatives for got. As for the mixing of languages!
JeffW
Pet dislike is the invention of "cruelled" ~ e.g. he was cruelled by the bounce of the ball. It has crept into other Aussie usage beyond sport.
The absence of the adverb also annoys me
For free.
The past tense of get is got, not gotten. Something and anything end in g not k (somethink, anythink). Literally used when the meaning is figuratively.
Artificial intelligence comes in a bottle. It transforms blonde to brunette.
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