My daughter used to come home from school (1st grade) with things like 'wuz' (was) and dun (done), spelled as she heard them. I asked if her teacher did not help her spell words she did not know. "No, Mom. She said to sound it out. She doesn't care if it is not like you spell them." No wonder people do not know how to spell! Kids are not being taught - and that was 20 years ago. We spent a few years home schooling our children to give them a good base - in a lot of things.

Now all of the kids spell as though they are always text messaging...I think our english language is going to be butchered comepletely :roll:

I have a couple of things to add. My son ends most of his sentences with "and what nots"--whatever that means. And my British son-in-law says "hoovering" for vacuuming, calls the car trunk a "boot" and the hood a "bonnet". There are a lot of other things he says differently but I can't remember them right now.
As far as basing directions on something along the route, my former son-in-law gave me directions on how to get to their house by saying something like this: "Go down the road and turn at the cows." Turn at the cows? This was in a farming community. Cows are very common in that area. I did understand what he meant though, when I got to the "cows". I had passed many intersections that had a few cows in the field, but the one he referenced had probably 500 cows in the field. It was still confusing and make me uncomfortable thinking I was going to get lost--because how do you base directions on something that moves around, like cows? :lol:

there may be 500 cows in the pasture now...but not at milking time LMBO

Philadelphia -South Philly where the "GREAT Cheesesteaks" are made -Jeet yet?

Meaning "Have you eaten yet? It is an offering to make you a meal!

I had to email Elizabeth on "THE VIEW" to say 'Myearscan'thearasfastasyoutalk' My ears can't hear as fast as you talk. We talk rapidly in the North but Please, just space the words.

Sorry, this will be long, but I have NINE great pages to comment on and add to!

"Anymore" used at the end of a sentence annoys me, as in "People do everything by e-mail and text messaging anymore." Meaning, they don't send paper letters any more. (I'm find with it used the second way.) The other thing that bugs me about it is spelling it "anymore" as all one word. I was taught it was two words, but I've seen it as one word in books and newspapers, so apparently that's considered correct now.

It's classic Brooklyn, New York talk, at least among the less educated people. Commonly spelled "youse" here.

So are you saying you dislike the phrase "fixing to?" I spent my early years in the South, and I remember saying "fixin' to" all the time. I mean, all the time!
"Lisa, finish your milk." "I'm fixin' to, Mama."
"Put on that sweater before you go outside." "I'm fixin' to!"
I've been trying to think what I replaced it with. "In a minute." "I intend to." "I'm planning on it." "Yeah, alright." I think I prefer "I'm fixin' to." <g>

Your comment about how days of the week are mispronounced reminds me of one of my pet peeves. I don't know when this started, but I hate it when people say "Thank you" and mis-pronounce it "Think you." Usually it's teenage girls who want to be cute, but they grow up to be women and don't leave that one behind.

Oh, I so agree! I've been told at multiple jobs to use "issue" instead of "problem" because "problem" has a more negative feel. At first, issues were questions or things that needed clarification or discussion, while problems were things that caused something bad to happen. When everything became an issue, they had to develop a ranking system to distinguish between the discussion items and the problems-that-we're-not-calling-problems.

I saw that! He's begun using it for things that aren't really unprecendented. [Disclaimer: This is not intended to be a political statement or to start a poltical discussion. It's only about the use of the word where it doesn't belong.]

Along the same lines, I had a professor once who used "essentially" at least once in every sentence. How annoying was that!

Which brings me to my next phrase gripe, the trend of saying "How ____ is that!" when what is meant is, "How ___ that is!" How did that wretched little piece of wording ever get started? Anyone know?

Another: "That's what I'm saying!" or "That's what I'm telling you!" used after someone else has said something the person agrees with - when the person hadn't yet said anything at all.

I figured that last post was long enough.

The topic is actually phrases that "puzzle" not phrases that annoy, so let me ask our quilters across the pond about this set.

I'm read a mystery series set in England (the Daisy Dalrymple books by Carola Dunn), and I gather that saying "ever so" (Oh, I'm ever so fine!" Or, "He was ever so jolly.") is low class. It's posher (more posh?) to use "frightfully" or "fearfully" to mean "very" (She was frightfully well dressed. They had a fearfully good hike.) - at least back in the 1920s when the books take place.

So is it still that way, and why on Earth do people use "frightful" and fearful" when talking about things that aren't scary?

"At this particular point in time..." instead of "now"

puzzling, annoying - all acceptable and entertaining :)

I just noticed!

bands/strips/bars between the posts. YIPPEE!