No Feathers I's gotten richz and getten one of those there new fanged beds.
Chickens and Oxalis
Fanged beds? Does it bite you in the middle of the night? Yikes!
Hey Wren: "Ain't" was a perfectly proper contraction for many years....I blame middle class morality (a la G. B. Shaw) for dethroning it.
WARNING! The following contains snotty, English Major opinions and is not suitable for normal people, living happy, well-adjusted lives.
Thank you Moxon....you answered exactly as I thought you would. I too now flinch when using "got"--but Shakespeare used it to great effect--so I am not sure if I am being overly nice. I suspect all the finer points of "shall" are acquired at a mother's knee. Although I can generally feel the distinctions, I can rarely give a clear explanation of its proper British use.
Now, for my biggest pet peeve: "As best as I can" They use it all the time now...it is even on network news. Your choices are: " The best that I can." or "As well as I can."
I am in deep mourning for the loss of adverbial forms.
According to the OED, closer to Brother Cadfael's time than Shakespeare's time, "nice" used to mean lewd and lacivious...........so are you really being "overly nice"? *grin*
Probably:0) I do have the very tiniest gap between my front teeth.
My spell check struck again.
Oh Catscan, I love your snotty English Major opinions. They warm my little English major heart.
Your expansion on "As best as I can" gave me pause....yikes....I hadn't thought about it, but you are so right! I hear that all the time though. I usually say "I'll do my best" in such situations, which I still believe to be proper...
Another pet peeve - the relatively recent adoption of "anymore" in a positive adverb form meaning "nowadays" or "lately," rather than the negative normal sense of the word.
Proper use: My chickens are not laying eggs anymore.
Bad, bad, bad use: Anymore, my chickens are always laying eggs.
Further expanded upon here, along with the anymore/any more debate: http://alt-usage-english.org/anymore.html
Drives me absolutely around the bend.
And I have a significant gap between my front teeth....and I'm always nice. LOL.
I hate the use of "you know" in every other breath.
Oh Wren, you know, I think that's just, you know, kind of picky, you know? LOL....
Lifelong secret being exposed here..
True Confessions.. LOL
I have always wanted a gap between my front teeth! When I was little.. I would jam toothpicks in between my front teeth and break them off hoping my teeth would grow a gap. I asked my dentist if he would file them down so I could have a gap.. He did a little, but I'd LOVE to have Claire's teeth!!! I am so jealous.. LOL
My pet peeve?
Where are you at?
ZZ, too funny. Why do you want a gap? I could have had braces when I was a child but my parents made the decision that it enforces this concept in a child's mind that they must "look perfect" and they didn't want me to have that impression - they wanted me to be happy with myself as I was. So, I never had braces. Most of the time I'm glad they made that decision. I think imperfections add character! Geez, I have LOTS of character then! LOL!
Don't even get me started on the "Where are you at?" issue. Arggghhhh......
I had a friend that was thinking of getting braces as an adult to get rid of her gap-toothed smile and we all hollered and whinged (for you anglophiles) til she gave the idea up. We just plain like couldn't imagine her without her trademark grin, ya know?
Pfffft,
Jay
LOL
My sister as an adult had braces, but she also dyes her hair. I am happy with my gray, I came by them the hard way. LOL I get rid of my gap the hard way. Crowns on my front teeth.
"like" is another pet peeve, when used as every other work.
I confess, I dye my hair sometimes. I was happy with my gray, but when I went back to school with all these twenty-somethings, I became self conscious. Sometimes I do a reddish color, and sometimes I do blonde highlights. Of course, the gray always comes back...
Two more years to finish, maybe then I'll let it go natural again.
So like, you know, Wren, you have a lot of like, pet peeves, you know? I mean, you should like, chill out a little, you know? It's like, all good.
(giggle)
(Giggle) Hay I may slaughter the English language and spell worse that a first grader but at least I keep most slang out of my talk. LOL
"like" is another pet peeve, when used as every other work.
??
Like work? LOL
edited to add
GOTCHA Wren! :)
This message was edited Mar 9, 2009 11:11 AM
yep! Like I do not Like to work!!!!!
Soooo... like, if got is Elizabethan english, does that mean that like the Brits are like using slang when they say "Oh, I say there, have you any stiff upper lip? I seem to be fresh out, old chum." as like opposed to "Gotcher, yer crummy lit'l bug'r!"
I just must suppress a strong desire to punch folks who say "It's all good". POW! "Hey, was that as good for you as it was for me?" LOL
Like fer sure, ya know? It's just so blond...
LOL
Jay
Okay.. I'm in the middle of letting my hair go natural.. I'm at that stage that looks dreadful.. but I'm trying to hold out for a while longer.
The space thing? I've always thought it was the cutest thing.. I want one so bad.. :)
Hey ZZ, we've never seen a picture of you. We need a picture of you in the dreadful stage. You've all seen me looking dreadful in the pink and chartreuse....
To the best of my ability...
Obtain is borrowed, get is original to the English. I believe anglophiles prefer the Latinate...or is it just French?
If one keeps a stiff upper lip one never needs to 'get' one...one...one...
But where does one get one if one hasn't got one?
LOL
One just doesn't....
lolol.
Facial excercises could perhaps be employed?
Lip ups...
aerobic kissing?
Yeah huh.. I posted a pic of me on Santa's lap.. member? LOL
I do need to get a pic of me in my devastating ensemble... Red plaid pajamas and my muckin in style boots.. (thank you Claire for the idea)
No way am I taking a pic of my hair right now.. I can't even stand to look at it! LOL
I just blog posted a picture of my eye with the stunning red-pink eyeliner that Stuffin gave me yesterday by shoving her hoof in my eye...
OK, either I've got to throw this in or I must add this, depending on how you like your English: I had the best gap between my front teeth when I was young -- I could spit as straight as a blind beggar. MY MOTHER MADE ME GET BRACES. I'll never forgive her for it, especially since I now have TMJ because of the braces!!!!!
Mothers are just sooooo unreasonable sometimes! LOL
I don't think I listed this on the famous "Chicken Phrases" thread--but this is one English idiom, similar to "stiff upper lip", that just doesn't transition well to the New World:
http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/keep+your+pecker+up.html
{{sputter-sput-sput-sputter}}... oh dear. The little purient mind runs amuck. {{snort}} Maybe it's time to take things in hand?.... giggle
=0)
I am not in the least purient...and it had to be pointed out to me that this is not a phrase that can be used safely in the States. Too bad because I think it is easier to visualize lifting up one's head from the slough of despondency, than stiffening one's upper lip--which I still don't really get.
It has to be the supercilious look that comes with the stiff upper lip. Maybe [one] feels more capable of handling anything when being superior...
Perhaps....or maybe the English upper lip is just inherently more pliant than the US one--making the stiffening of it something of an accomplishment?
All that inbreeding of the blue bloods...
Spelling Police issuing tickets to Catscan and Jayryunen.
It's prurient, not purient.
Chocolate payments can be sent to me directly.
LOL @ Claire
I always thought a stiff upper lip meant not to cry.
Same difference huh?
Ah, Moxon---I was just copying the BAD CHILD:0)
ZZ, when I come over tomorrow with all the miscellaneous eggs for you to hatch, you can practice BOTH idioms.
(Do I get any points for spelling "miscellaneous" without the spell check?)
Perhaps. The spelling police will consider a reduction of the fee.