Herodotus wrote:
On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 08:22:14 -0700, wrote:
snip
Actually, I love the Americanisms such as "I'll fix dinner" - what's
wrong with it? and the various references to the latrine - Little
girl's room", "powder my nose" and so on. Nothing as basic as our
"Where are the toilets?" or "I have to go".
LOL...if you find *those* amusing, you really must get out (in the US)
more. There are more gems than you could imagine. My favorite came
from a 'gent' I was forced to work with who, when asked about the status
of a task he had already completed, replied with "I done did that there
bud, it's done done". With a straight face...
Keith Hughes
All jokes aside, that's the wonderful thing about the English
language. It is so varied and the different useages of words and terms
are so interesting. I often wonder if there is any "correct English"
so long as the meaning is not ambiguous and misleading.
I would agree that there is a great deal of stylistic leeway in "correct
English" construction. However, I review many thousands of pages of,
shall we say, "text" each year, written by college graduates, and
ambiguity and lack of concision seem to be fairly rampant these days.
The rapid rise of text messaging, with the concomitant mangling of
spelling, grammar, and syntax is also quite clearly not going to help
matters.
Even the
Americanism "fix" also means to prepare or make something in the
Oxford dictionary as well as the only useage we put on it which is to
repair.
Well, one can hardly fault the use of such an easily conjugated verb:
"I's a fixin to..."
"He's a fixin to..."
"They's a fixin to..."
And the ever popular; "We's a fixing to too..." :-)
But, do you not also use it relative to Nitrogen fixation? I had
assumed that was a universal (for English speakers) usage.
The only word I object to is the Americanism "dude" which is creeping
into Antipodean language and used by those who wish to be seen as hip.
I cannot but object verbally or walk out of a shop when I am addressed
as such.
I understand your aversion, and in deference to the desire for cordial
antipodean relations, I shall refrain from the rejoinder "Yo, chill dude".
Cheers,
Keith Hughes