3bm103 - GAH!- the misuse of “myself”!
You beat me to it on that one. And people think they make themselves sound sooooo intelligent and sophisticated when they do it.
And, yes, it does seem that this one is happening more and more often. I think I’ve only noticed it in the past 5-10 years or so.
Another affectation that gets on my last nerve: pronouncing the “t” in “often.”
ACK!!!
(On edit – yeah, it may be standard pronunciation in the UK, but I never used to hear it in the US. Now this pronunciation is running amok here.)
I think that is standard pronunciation in my part of the country.
But ek, was that the standard pronunciation when you were growing up? Or is it one of those things that people now think makes them sound more sophisticated, so is spreading like wildfire?
Ek, possibly because of the PNW’s proximity to Canada? Do Canadians pronounce the “t”?
Ek, possibly because of the PNW’s proximity to Canada? Do Canadians pronounce the “t”, eh?
Ha, GMT!
Because of the Internet, we encounter much more unedited prose from people from all walks of life than we ever did in the past. I think that is why there is the illusion of more errors now than there were 10 to 15 years ago.
I grew up in upstate NY and I pronounce the t in often. It wasn’t until college that I realized that most people didn’t do that.
Seeing people post threads wanting chances for the “Ivys” is annoying.
Oh, yeah, Albert! And many of them are big abusers of the apostrophe ( again, a THIRD GRADE skill) and “myself”.
@MomCat2 Yeah, “Ivy’s” is another one I see sometimes.
But ek, was that the standard pronunciation when you were growing up? Or is it one of those things that people now think makes them sound more sophisticated, so is spreading like wildfire?
*
Well, my grandparents & mom were from Missouri,( pronounced Miss ourah) so they didn’t pronounce it like that, but everyone else did.
Not sure why the implication that it is pretentious to pronounce the t.
IMO, to pronounce it " off-en", sounds like what you say to your dog in the South.
" Digger, you get offen that sofa!"
I pronounce it both with and without the “t”. It seems like it depends on when I’m saying it in a sentence. If it’s the first word, I pronounce the “t” but if it’s in the middle of a sentence, I don’t.
My mom pronounces it with the “t” but she had a British momma so has a lot of that speech influence.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone pronounce “often” with an articulated t.
Many years ago, before the flood, I dated a man whose parents were verrrrrrrrrry wealthy. Famous wealthy. When my parents met them, all of a sudden my mother pulled “of - tt - en” out of her hat. I had never heard her use it before.
She was trying to impress.
I do get people who think I am British.
Not sure why, but Siri doesn’t understand me unless I chose British English, instead of American English.
But it’s not like I say lorry instead of truck, or barrister instead of lawyer.
I do have problems with language, and pronunciations, and it’s getting so bad, I was thinking about going to a speech therapist.( I feel like too I often can’t think of the right word, when I should know it- now when I say it in my head, I don’t pronounce the " t" 
)
I say aminal, instead of animal, and pernament, instead of permanent.
I’ve never been able to learn a foreign language because not only am I slightly dyslexic, but I have never been able to keep straight grammatical rules. I can write ok in English for the most part, but I couldn’t tell you what an adverb was.
I sure couldn’t help my kids in school, and to think that they both not only graduated from college, but have worked as writers/editors after college, is intimidating to me.
Ek - yay! You said “graduated from college” rather than “graduated college”! So you’re doing great!
It would be really interesting to have an MRI performed, while I am trying to write standard English.
I used to read a lot, and that helped me to spell and to recognize when something sounded " right" and when it didn’t.
I heard John Ratey ( prof at Harvard- ADHD specialist) talk about the brains of someone with ADHD, and how their brains were inefficient performing the same task as someone without ADHD.( as seen by MRI)
Like my daughter when she was learning to read. She did not have phonemic awareness, and couldn’t sound words out, but only could read words she had memorized.
It was fascinating to me, that when she was reading aloud, and came across a word she didn’t know, she would substitute a word from her memory. Often, a much more sophisticated word, but appropriate for the context.
This is why that students with ADHD and dyslexia are given extended time, when diagnosed, for some standardized tests. Their brains take longer because they are doing it the " hard" way.
To get back on topic, grammar/spelling does not generally irritate me ( just a little) when reading personal communication, but when it is public, in a newspaper or billboard, it is very irritating, because as I mentioned, I * learned* standard grammar by reading, folks who are reading these billboards and newspaper columns, are now going to be learning it wrong!
faze and phase
moot and mute
for all intents and purposes (not for all intensive purposes)
paid…NOT payed