Chris Morris has, of course, made an art of parodying the way in which TV presenters mangle the English language. I just heard a small but representative example on the television this afternoon, in a 'documentary' called something like 'The Man With Twenty Kids'. The example is as follows. The voiceover was talking about one of the twenty children of the programme's title:
Laura is among one of the youngest.
Among one? This comes under the 'misunderestimated' category of word or phrase collision, I think.
She is either one of the youngest, or she is among the youngest, but she is not among one of the youngest.
nice. i enjoyed this one. may have made similar mistakes myself. bit hey at least i get it lol.
Well, we all slip. I do think that TV presenters should be setting an example, though.
unarex writes:Not to be pedantic, but in the Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, Deluxe Second Edition, it states:Among (prep)#5: as compared with; as one among thousands.It refers to being taken out of a group of something. Such as here http://www.thefreedictionary.com/among it states:#4. taken out of (a group) he is only one among many”Many”, “Thousands” and “Youngest” are all referring to a group. Language is always shifting and evolving–one has to consider the logic and the context too. These “rules” should only be guides, not creative impositions.
unarex writes:Not to be pedantic, but in the Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, Deluxe Second Edition, it states:Among (prep)#5: as compared with; as one among thousands.It refers to being taken out of a group of something. Such as here http://www.thefreedictionary.com/among it states:4. taken out of (a group) he is only one among many”Many”, “Thousands” and “Youngest” are all referring to a group. Language is always shifting and evolving–one has to consider the logic and the context too. These “rules” should only be guides, not creative impositions.
unarex writes:Not to be pedantic, but in the Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, Deluxe Second Edition, it states:Among (prep)#5: as compared with; as one among thousands.It refers to being taken out of a group of something. Such as here http://www.thefreedictionary.com/among it states:4. taken out of (a group) he is only one among many”Many”, “Thousands” and “Youngest” are all referring to a group. Language is always shifting and evolving–one has to consider the logic and the context too. These “rules” should only be guides, not creative impositions.
“One among” is different to “among one”. Logic and context is exactly what I’m thinking of, and what the presenter wasn’t.
There are also those bizarre, Valley Girl type affectations that have been creeping into middle class speech over the past ten years or so. The rising inflections at the ends of sentences, the pronunciation of “t” as “d” (“gedding” for “getting”). I’ve also noticed people drawing out their “a’s” recently; pronouncing “plastic” as “plarstic”, and so on. Very strange.
It’s strange the way these things spread. I notice myself picking up verbal habits off other people. But there are some that simply have not found fertile soil in me. I think I would still have to force myself to say “movie”.
I don’t know if I’ve told you before, but this is the new thing:
You’re hoping it’ll catch on here, I’m sure. Actually, I think there are parts of Bideford where this is still in fashion.
I use “movie” sometimes; I think it depends on the context. “B-movie”, “action movie” — they strike me as being American archetypes, so it seems natural. I’ve always liked “elevator”, though I’ve been told off for using it. There’s the whole gender-neutrality craze, too, though it’s perhaps not as rife here as it is in America; everybody on Radio 4 was saying “chairperson” the other day.
Actually, considering the rules for euphony in French, I can easily imagine a Francophone version of this skit featuring Zinedine Zidane.Billy – “C’est assez ! Je ne peux associer à vous des personnes plus sans obtenir une merde stupide donnée un coup de pied, giflé, ou autre !”[Cut to Zidane]Zidane – “Juron !” [Headbutts Billy to the chest]
Yeah, “B-movie” is unavoidable. “B-film” doesn’t work. I’m capabe of saying “action film”, however, and do. Incessantly.I think the American expression that I like most is, “Knock yourself out.” I may have mentioned this before. I think it means something like “help yourself” or “feel free”, but I like to imagine a literal interpretation where someone is at a buffet party of some kind and has been invited to partake of the spread in this way, and tries valiantly to knock themselves unconscious with a piece of quiche or a sausage on a stick.I don’t know why I find this so appealing.
Originally posted by lesoldatperdu:the pronunciation of “t” as “d” (“gedding” for “getting”)This is a phenomenon called ‘flapping’, and it really isn’t part of the Valley accent. In the US it is mostly found in the South and Northeast in my experience. Originally posted by quentinscrisp:I think the American expression that I like most is, “Knock yourself out.”Yeah, it’s kind of like ‘eat your heart out’. I always imagined the gorier possibility for that one though.
It’s very true. Which reminds me, I must post something about the new Doctor Who.