Comments on: Bought or brought?

By: tashword

tashword — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 05:20:13 +0000

Hi Paul. Some of the Americanisms really annoy me, too – especially the grammatically incorrect ‘write me’ (instead of ‘write to me’).
Unfortunately, with so many of our TV shows being made in the USA, we are exposed to a lot of American terminology and ways of speaking so our cultures are becoming less distinct.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 02:50:45 +0000

Ok while we at it, what about Good & well?
She did good, she did well.
I notice on tv the Americans say, you did good. Here in Oz we usually say well.
I noticed my daughter more and more taking on Americanisms.

By: tashword

tashword — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:14:28 +0000

Thank you for such a great comment, ou7shined It obviously took you time and effort (even aside from being dyslexic) so I appreciate it.

I am finding it fascinating to hear that some countries or regions get brought/bought wrong but others don’t. And I completely agree that language evolving is great but there is so much dumbing down later which is frightening and somewhat offensive to me.

By: ou7shined

ou7shined — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:54:03 +0000

This is a pet hate of mine too.
In fact I couldn’t take it anymore and Googled (is that verb allowed? ) to see if others were equally bothered by it.
I am Scottish living in Aberdeen and use mainly UK forums. I’ve noticed English people often mix brought and bought when posting in forums but us Scots with our rounded ‘R’s (to the best of my knowledge) do not make this mistake. I am a musician and hang out mainly in music fora and had thought that many offenders were just being “street” by saying it wrongly (they certainly don’t seem as uneducated as their grasp of this simple concept indicates) but it would seem that this phenomenon is more wide spread…. like to the other side of the world.

I am all for our language evolving over time and I love dialects (especially since where I’m from the local dialects are so far removed from English it’s funny) but this brought/bought thing is simply wrong. It is not our rich language evolving, it is being dumbed down.

I am utterly stunned when I read here that some news readers are allowed to get away with it.

Regarding Vickie’s post above : I too hardly use “text speak” while texting. I did used to try and cram as much info into one text as possible when they first came out to save money but nowadays with so many free texts included in our modern tariffs, I never ever run over, leaving me free to send 5 perfectly spelt (spelled ??) and punctuated page texts at a time if I wanted.

Btw I am dyslexic and put great effort into posting my thoughts correctly. Maybe that’s why people with correctly wired brains misusing simple words annoys me so.

By: tashword

tashword — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 00:42:31 +0000

Hi Vickie, and thanks for leaving your comments

I don’t like generalisations either so I understand you getting frustrated by comments about ‘young people can’t spell’. In all generations, many people do know and use correct written English but there are some who don’t and some who don’t care and are happy to take an easier option (such as SMS short cuts).

In Australia (and presumably other places), the education system has moved between teaching philosophies including a phase where phonetic spelling was acceptable and the ideas were given more weight than spelling and grammar. Kids are now taught spelling and grammar but perhaps not to the same level as some older generations. I think people criticising younger generations’ knowledge of written English is more about what they’ve been taught than of the students themselves.

Have a happy new year and good luck with life beyond your GCSEs

By: Vickie

Vickie — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 10:43:36 +0000

Hi tashword,
I’d just like to say to everyone on this website who is banging on about how we’re ‘raising a generation of individuals who only text’ and ‘spelling correctly will never be a part of their vocabulary’, I’m an 18 year old girl from England and I can tell you all now that many of my friends and I don’t write in text language, in primary school we were always corrected on our spelling/punctuation/grammar and most of my year in secondary school passed our English GCSEs with top marks (bearing in mind that marks were deducted if our spelling/punctuation/grammar was incorrect). I am sick and tired of seeing and hearing people having a go at my generation. We are not all complete idiots in hoods with mobile phones permanently attached to our hands and text language inscribed in our brains.
Sorry for the rant, I had to say something. Brilliant website though!

By: adword

adword — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 05:50:47 +0000

was just tryin ta get sumfin off my chest but this site too geeky for me haha iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii gosh how pathetic

By: tashword

tashword — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:38:24 +0000

I’m not sure capital punishment is the right response, Eh, but I do understand your frustration! I can overlook one “i” error as a typo but many in a row just yells lazy to me.

Hope you are finding my blog of value and that you comment in other posts, too – it’s always good to hear form others who notice bad grammar!

By: Eh?

Eh? — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 13:36:56 +0000

A pet hate of mine is reading through a post and they haven’t used capital ‘I’. Totally unforgivable and should be corrected through the use of capital punishment.

By: tashword

tashword — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 00:10:00 +0000

Hi Adword, and thanks for joining in
I don’t like generalisations that x group is well educated (or whatever) and y group isn’t – there are great and ordinary urban schools, plus great and ordinary rural schools – so I’m glad you are able to show your country background doesn’t stop you spelling correctly!
“Off of” is somewhat redundant and annoying – glad to say I don’t hear it often except amongst kids (and they’re easier to correct!)