Posted on 02/25/2005 11:29:26 AM PST by Willie Green
I took "very unique" to be an actual error because the phrase is so very common. Use of "hopefully" is almost universal. This exchange is almost the only time that I have ever seen or heard it recognized as an error.
But there is hope...
.....after hearing one "Ya, know" for every third word in interviews with college jocks...I am heartened by the 5 graduating seniors on the University of Vermont basketball team and their coach, Tom Brennan
Taylor Coppenrath...probable NBA draftee...had a GPA of 3.09 IN MATH!!!
T. J. Sorrentine (the Bob Cousy of UVM) is another unsung hero with a 3.0+ GPA.
Germain Mopa Njila speaks three languages.
David Hehn and Alex Jensen contributed not only to the Cats 21-5 overall, 16-1 America East record but a team seniors GPA of 3.41!!!!!
America....get ready for 4 white and 1 black role models.
Howie Carr runs contests on the radio where callers try to keep correct count of the number of times Ted Kennedy says "Uhh" while making some statement to the press.
I am filled with hope while wishing that my posts were alone in their ability to induce nausea.
I still diagram sentences. It's the best way I can satisfy myself that something is or is not a correct sentence.
One phrase that drives me crazy is "the BOTH of you."
That one could earn you a ruler on the knuckles from the nuns!
Well, having fought the good fight trying to teach grammar to people who don't care, I no longer bother about it much, and instead, get to sit back and watch the language mutate, which is even more fun.
But, in case anybody is interested, and nobody mentioned it in the countless replies I have passed over, since I got to the thread late, people use ignorant as a synonym for rude, because it has been a cultural reality for centuries, that uneducated people have not been schooled in the language of politeness, and therefore, frequently, ignorant is unintentionally rude.
This is why the word churl, which used to mean peasant, means rude or boring.
This is also why the word villain, which once also meant peasant, means wrongdoer.
Peasant and pagan have similar roots, by the way, meaning country person.
Quaint is interesting, starting off meaning clever, and silly once meant holy.
Fun things, words.
I seem to remember it was about eight or ten years ago when I noticed that "very unique" and "so unique" were becoming fashionable. I hear it from radio and TV anouncers and university professors.
I suppose calling something very unique is seen as making it more special than simply calling it different.
Xena's Guy thinks Bush's speechwriters have some kind of contest going to see who can get him to say "nucular" the most times in one speech.
Those words might be often misapplied, but they are words.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Quotes:
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) :
Anyway \A"ny*way\, Anyways \A"ny*ways\, adv.
Anywise; at all. --Tennyson. Southey.
Supposable \Sup*pos"a*ble\, a.
Capable of being supposed, or imagined to exist; as, that is
not a supposable case. -- Sup*pos"a*ble*ness, n. --
Sup*pos"a*bly, adv.
[The following is only an excerpt, as the list of definitions are long.]
Incidence \In"ci*dence\, n. [Cf. F. incidence.]
1. A falling on or upon; an incident; an event. [Obs.] --Bp.
Hall.
2. (Physics) The direction in which a body, or a ray of light
or heat, falls on any surface.
In equal incidences there is a considerable
inequality of refractions. --Sir I.
Newton.
There is only one regurgitator, and he is here.
Good luck matching his skills ;)
Much gooder!
I am curious what the president is thinking about that. He obviously knows he's mispronouncing it. Maybe he enjoys doing at as a way of sticking it to his critics.
Jimmy Carter, a nuclear physicist, said "nookular", too.
I can't tell you a single grammar rule. As far as poor grammar goes, I'm the worst offender. But there are two things that drive me crazy--this is one of them. I think that people say "Heather and I" because it sounds so awkward that it MUST be correct.
BTW, my other peeve is when people say "myself" when "I" or "me" will do.
English classes are mandatory through junior high, and through at least the junior year of high school, in the district in which I grew up (Fort Bend, just outside Houston). Only senior English was elective. So six years of English is the minimum FBISD graduates take.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.