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Niggly little Annoyances.........


sail7seas

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Hi Sheila,

 

Is "head" a bathroom? Are most crew familiar with the term? I can imagine heads spinning if I were to ask where the "head" was....

 

:D :D :D

I was talking about boats as in pleasure craft. The correct name for a bathroom is "head," and the correct name for the kitchen is "galley." Although, the term, galley, is used on ships, I know that head is not!

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OK, I'll play.

One of the worst (to me) has already been mentioned: "dinning" (rhymes with "winning") when the person means "dining". I always read that as spelled out, and I feel it right in my spine! And then I think how nice it would really be to have a "dinning room" on the ship---it would be so much quieter everywhere else if all the din were kept in one place. :D

In a similar vein is "noone" (rhymes with the time of day you might be thinking about lunch) when the person means "no one" (two words).

A few others are "gonna", simply because it isn't a word. It's "going to", using "I" when you mean "me", and using "of" as a verb.

 

But the worst, to me, is "issues". That must be the popular new-speak for lazy thinking. I have "issues" of magazines, and "issues" of newspapers. But when it comes to current usage I don't have "issues" I have "problems", "challenges" "obstacles" to overcome, and several other things. But "issues"? Nope.

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The confusion over prostrate and prostate.

 

i.e., the lovely hymn which sometimes contains the phrase...let angels prostate fall :rolleyes:

i.e., he is having prostrate problems. :o

 

Sorry, this mixup drives me up a wall -- and "drives me up a wall" is overused.

 

Cheers,

Karen

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One of the funniest, but at the time saddest, things that ever happened to me was the day I arrived at the school where I worked in the Bronx, NY. Someone who was angry at the principal destroyed the school. He actually set fire to the principal's office, but not before he destroyed my room. I worked with children who had learning disabilities and had a tape recorder in my room. He left a note on the board for the principal and the police that read as follows:

Press the tap button. There was an arrow pointing to the tape recorder.

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Two things:

 

First of all, the thing that bugs me most on cruise ships (and it has nothing to do with language) is when people stop in front of the elevator and won't get out of the way to allow people to get on or off. The worst are the people who get off and then just stand in front of the door, looking around, trying to figure out if they're in the right place, completely oblivious to the needs of others.

 

Second, about the language thing: Language changes. Words change meaning all the time. It's a natural part of language, so when words take on new meanings, it's just a matter of the language changing along with us. We're not still speaking Old English, after all, and even in Middle English (the language of Chaucer), double negatives (even triple and quadruple) negatives were just fine. And the meanings of words can vary according to regional differences, or national differences (English in UK, Australia, Canada).

 

Now it is true, though, that sometimes people get things just plain wrong, like in confusing one word for another or saying things that don't logically mean what the speaker intends (like "I could care less").

 

But as far as vocabulary goes, and rules of grammar and punctuation to a lesser extent, things change. The ideas of "correct" or Standard English change more slowly than the changes in actual practice, though, so if a person wants to succeed in business/life, it's a good idea to know and practice what is considered "proper" at any given time.

 

I have a Ph.D. in English, have authored composition textbooks, and I have been teaching for over 30 years. BUT I don't speak (or write) the same way when I'm chatting with my fellow Texan pals that I do;) when I'm writing for publication or speaking on a formal occasion. (The accent is still there, though not as strong as when I was growing up).

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On the ship - when people take too much food and can't finish it all (i.e in the Lido)

 

On these forums - when people refer to their partners/spouses etc. by abbreviations such as DH, DW, HB etc. It bothers me for some reason. I guess it's similar to how people dislike the abbreviations for the ships.

 

In general - when people misplace the ' (apostrophe) in words such as photos (photo's), etc. I see it more and more as time goes on.

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So, than, when me & my old man is cruising on a Holland boat,(like Westie, Zuidie, or Eurie) let me ax you; is it better to get fixed dinning or anytime dinning, or could we maybe get a tour of the kitchen? Irregardless, we could care less if we eat early or late, but we hate to loose too much port time, and we don't wanna incovenience our stewart too much. If it's not a problem for noone else, we'd like to just fill up some heapin helpins up in the buffet for supper. Then we could just go back to our aft room on the middle floor, hit the head, and then crack open our finest white zin.;)

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So, than, when me & my old man is cruising on a Holland boat,(like Westie, Zuidie, or Eurie) let me ax you; is it better to get fixed dinning or anytime dinning, or could we maybe get a tour of the kitchen? Irregardless, we could care less if we eat early or late, but we hate to loose too much port time, and we don't wanna incovenience our stewart too much. If it's not a problem for noone else, we'd like to just fill up some heapin helpins up in the buffet for supper. Then we could just go back to our aft room on the middle floor, hit the head, and then crack open our finest white zin.;)

Good one:D

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The confusion over prostrate and prostate.

 

i.e., the lovely hymn which sometimes contains the phrase...let angels prostate fall :rolleyes:

i.e., he is having prostrate problems. :o

 

Sorry, this mixup drives me up a wall -- and "drives me up a wall" is overused.

 

Cheers,

Karen

 

 

Or the confusion over i.e. (id est - that is) and e.g. (exempli gratia - for example).

 

Sorry I couldn't resist. If I had to suffer through 4 years of Latin then I think everyone should have the benefit of my vast (decidedly NOT;)) knowledge.

 

If it makes you feel any better I probably put the period in the wrong place and I have to admit to a tendency to capitalise far too many words, no doubt due to attending schools in England sometime during the middle of the last century. During our final high school exams I failed English Grammar and had to retake the exam. I wasn't too surprised because I never could understand some of the stupid (at least in my thinking) rules, and quite frankly at my advanced age I still don't care about them.

 

 

 

Valerie:D

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So, than, when me & my old man is cruising on a Holland boat,(like Westie, Zuidie, or Eurie) let me ax you; is it better to get fixed dinning or anytime dinning, or could we maybe get a tour of the kitchen? Irregardless, we could care less if we eat early or late, but we hate to loose too much port time, and we don't wanna incovenience our stewart too much. If it's not a problem for noone else, we'd like to just fill up some heapin helpins up in the buffet for supper. Then we could just go back to our aft room on the middle floor, hit the head, and then crack open our finest white zin.;)

 

 

 

Funny. Love it. Good job, Usha.

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Well said, drtee ... but you stole about half of my post!

 

So I'll make do with the other half. Things that bother me:

 

"pesty" (meaning pesky)

"administrate" (administer)

"give it my endorsation" (endorsement)

 

Regarding split infinitives: the origin of our ban on this beast lies in Latin grammar. The earliest English grammar texts were translations of Latin grammar texts; nobody quite tumbled to the fact that no two languages have the same grammatical structure, so traditional English grammar is based on the faulty (but unconscious) premise that Latin grammar suits English. Modern grammarians have fixed that, but nobody bothered to tell the high school English teachers, one of which I used to be :)

 

Well, in Latin the infinitive form of any verb (the "to" form, as in "to be", "to laugh", "to belch") is a single word (modern French among others works the same way), so of course in Latin there are never any split infinitives. In English you can always insert an adverb (or other gewgaw) between the "to" and the rest of the infinitive; in Latin you can't since it's easy to stick a word between two other words but really hard to put it between just one other. So since it's impossible to split an infinitive in Latin, some early grammarian figured that you must ergo never do it in English. Pretty flimsy grounds if you ask me (and flimsy even if you don't).

 

One more item: "if you will" is legit -- "will" denotes intention as well as denoting the future. This goes all the way back to the King James Bible (maybe farther). Someone says to Jesus "you can heal me if you will" and he says "I will -- you are healed" (sorry, de-"thou'd" it for simplicity's sake).

 

Oh, yeah -- one last shot. Please never tell me that "the proof is in the pudding"!

 

Two things:

 

First of all, the thing that bugs me most on cruise ships (and it has nothing to do with language) is when people stop in front of the elevator and won't get out of the way to allow people to get on or off. The worst are the people who get off and then just stand in front of the door, looking around, trying to figure out if they're in the right place, completely oblivious to the needs of others.

 

Second, about the language thing: Language changes. Words change meaning all the time. It's a natural part of language, so when words take on new meanings, it's just a matter of the language changing along with us. We're not still speaking Old English, after all, and even in Middle English (the language of Chaucer), double negatives (even triple and quadruple) negatives were just fine. And the meanings of words can vary according to regional differences, or national differences (English in UK, Australia, Canada).

 

Now it is true, though, that sometimes people get things just plain wrong, like in confusing one word for another or saying things that don't logically mean what the speaker intends (like "I could care less").

 

But as far as vocabulary goes, and rules of grammar and punctuation to a lesser extent, things change. The ideas of "correct" or Standard English change more slowly than the changes in actual practice, though, so if a person wants to succeed in business/life, it's a good idea to know and practice what is considered "proper" at any given time.

 

I have a Ph.D. in English, have authored composition textbooks, and I have been teaching for over 30 years. BUT I don't speak (or write) the same way when I'm chatting with my fellow Texan pals that I do;) when I'm writing for publication or speaking on a formal occasion. (The accent is still there, though not as strong as when I was growing up).

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I hate to see Champagne spelt Champaine which I see a lot on these boards. Also in the UK if a wine is referred to as Champagne, it can only be French Champagne, otherwise it is Sparkling wine. I have been caught out a number of times in the US and the Caribbean when the promised Champagne turns out to be a cheap nasty sparkling wine! Not legal over here! Sue

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Here's mine-

I cant stand it when people post a topic that says "Convince me to try the Zuiderdam" - or whatever ship. Even worse "Convince me to try Holland" :)

 

Only slight more annoying to me is "Tell me about _____" topics

 

It sounds like they're ordering everyone to convince them, or to just start rambling on as if we have nothing better to do. Questions, whether general or specific are all great, but ugh! those "Convince Me" topics really bug me!!!!

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I hate to see Champagne spelt Champaine which I see a lot on these boards. Also in the UK if a wine is referred to as Champagne, it can only be French Champagne, otherwise it is Sparkling wine. I have been caught out a number of times in the US and the Caribbean when the promised Champagne turns out to be a cheap nasty sparkling wine! Not legal over here! Sue

 

The confusion here is the US is likely due to a city in Illinois, Champaign, where there is a well known University with a football team that is followed by many in this country: The Fighting Illini. When struggling to properly spell Champagne, all sorts of options pop into one's head. This doesn't excuse our ignorance, but it may help to explain it. :)

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