americans using golf as a verb

God that winds me up.

I hate when people use sky+ as a verb

Why would using Sky+ as a verb annoy you? If they said recorded they could be meaning they used a DVD recorder to record it. If they say they Sky+d then there is no question over how they recorded it.

Sky+/Sky plussed is just a new slang verb that comes with new technology like Text/Texted and Googling or Googled.

Like it or not lads, language is something that is constantly evolving.

Go back 100 years and tell a bloke he looks very gay, he'll probably be happy that you noticed his good mood. Tell someone he looks cool and he might tell you that the temperature is just fine.

We're just noticing the era of this evolution that is relevant to us.

Having said that, I do get wound up with people using 'podium' as a verb.

"Ennis should definitely podium at the Olympics."

And also a horrible adjective that I saw in a newspaper the other day, talking about some American Football coach being the 'winningest' in college football history. So some blokes are winning, other, more successful ones, are winninger, but he is the winningest.

Winningest is actually being underlined in red as I type it here.

Wicked.

What a disgusting word! I hope that is the last time I have to read it, Il_Gia!

People who spell words incorrectly with the same amount of letters as the original

Like ‘Newacstle’？

IG
Even just reading that W word is setting my teeth on edge...

As for the verb 'to podium', surely this must mean that you have three people standing on top of you at the end of the event?

You are correct though about the evolution of language - things like 'to google' have a precedent from 'to hoover', where the brand name of the most widely recognised item mutated into a verb for the use of said item. Not sure I like 'to Sky+', but that's more because it is clumsy than for any valid linguistic reason.

'To golf' though does not sound very good.

Of course, if this is to be a whinge thread about language, can I just make the point that the correct use is 'would have', not 'would of'...

Il Gialloblu wrote:Like ‘Newacstle’？

Ha, eagle eyed, Sir.

Almost as bad as the podium example is use of medal as a verb. Is there something about athletics that encourages this sort of thing? Are they so short of breath from their exertions that they can't say "I hope to win a medal"? :

Il Gialloblu wrote:And also a horrible adjective that I saw in a newspaper the other day, talking about some American Football coach being the 'winningest' in college football history. So some blokes are winning, other, more successful ones, are winninger, but he is the winningest.

Winningest is actually being underlined in red as I type it here.

If you had read it carefully, you would have seen that the use of "winningest" was by no means the worst part of that story.

WhiteCamry wrote:

Il Gialloblu wrote:And also a horrible adjective that I saw in a newspaper the other day, talking about some American Football coach being the 'winningest' in college football history. So some blokes are winning, other, more successful ones, are winninger, but he is the winningest.

Winningest is actually being underlined in red as I type it here.

If you had read it carefully, you would have seen that the use of "winningest" was by no means the worst part of that story.

True, but that's a discussion for another thread. The one that you linked to.

Cheers for that mate, I'd missed that thread. Not nice, but interesting to read people's thoughts.

Addicting. That is another word used a lot more by Americans that I really don't want to see invading British English. What's so wrong with addictive?

However, back in Blighty... when did everything become epic?

My uncle has an epic beard. You mean big? Long? Or maybe bushy?

Last night's Top Gear was epic. Eh? It was one hour of men talking about and driving cars, like they all are.

Mate, that lasagne was epic. What? It was pasta, meat sauce and cheese, not Lawrence of Arabia.

Il G

Agree about 'epic', although I quite like 'epic fail' as a description of abject failure (and I won't make any reference to Ashley Young's penalty-taking abilities).

As far as word evolution goes, 'gay' has got to be one of the more interesting examples - started off meaning something cheerful or bright, was co-opted by the gay community as a self-description (perhaps because of the connotations with flamboyance and happiness), and then a couple of years ago ended up as a derogatory term for something that was a bit naff.

Il Gialloblu wrote:Addicting. That is another word used a lot more by Americans that I really don't want to see invading British English. What's so wrong with addictive?

However, back in Blighty... when did everything become epic?

My uncle has an epic beard. You mean big? Long? Or maybe bushy?

Last night's Top Gear was epic. Eh? It was one hour of men talking about and driving cars, like they all are.

Mate, that lasagne was epic. What? It was pasta, meat sauce and cheese, not Lawrence of Arabia.

My mother likes to use the word sarcastically. When I was a kid, whenever I watched on television something which was a tad too noisy she would come into the room, briefly look at whatever it was and sneer, 'what is this epic?'

WhiteCamry wrote:

My mother likes to use the word sarcastically. When I was a kid, whenever I watched on television something which was a tad too noisy she would come into the room, briefly look at whatever it was and sneer, 'what is this epic?'

I've just pictured that scene (as well as I could, not knowing what you and your mother look like) and it made me chuckle.

dummy_half wrote:Il G

Agree about 'epic', although I quite like 'epic fail' as a description of abject failure (and I won't make any reference to Ashley Young's penalty-taking abilities).

As far as word evolution goes, 'gay' has got to be one of the more interesting examples - started off meaning something cheerful or bright, was co-opted by the gay community as a self-description (perhaps because of the connotations with flamboyance and happiness), and then a couple of years ago ended up as a derogatory term for something that was a bit naff.

Ah, the seemingly all-pervading current internet darling that is epic fail. For me, that is a case of one plus one equalling three! The misuse and overuse of epic allied to the misuse and overuse of fail creates an annoyance greater than the sum of its parts.

Now, when I say misuse there are of course the mitigating circumstances of language evolving. But in my view it would be more correct to use the word failure as a noun, as you yourself did earlier when explaining the meaning of epic fail.

Is fail a noun? An interjection? Can it be used as an adjective? I've seen cases of this. As it stands, we've been using fail as a noun for longer than I care to research in isolated cases like do it without fail, but I'm not ready yet to accept it as a substitute for the use of failure.

Language evolution isn't the biggest problem for me anyway, unless it's lazy Americanisms creeping into British English. It's the buzzwords that I can't stand and I think there is a difference between a current trend, internet or otherwise, and real language evolution.

Right now it seems to be epic, fail and epic fail. A few years ago every noun appeared to have random put in front of it and every adjective was followed by .com.

Another current thing is the hash tags. I understand they have some function or other on Twitter but I get fed up of seeing them used just in an 'amusing' way on facebook, or even on here, after messages. It's not funny, it's pretentious and became old the second time someone saw it.

I like this thread, it's like The "That Really Grinds My Gears" Thread but just for language complaints.

Buzzwords winding me up more than language evolution is something that I touched on earlier. For me, natural organic evolution is fine. Lazily copying Americanisms or current trends is not. I think that while a trend eventually dies down, it never completely leaves the language as it found it. Epic might go out of fashion but the meaning of the word has probably been irrevocably watered down now... which is perhaps a stage of the the natural evolution of this word, so the result will bother me less than the time when everyone was using the bloody word left, right and centre.

I'm only 31 and probably get far more grouchy about perceived misuse of English than I should at my age but I suppose that's what happens when you start teaching it. I am fully aware however that the not-so-merry band of people, of which I'm a part, who want to stem the tide of rapid change are going to have about as much success as King Canute did when he tried a metaphorically similar thing.

One more trend that I've noticed is a phrase being used by people who have expressed an opinion but want to come across as not being too bothered about it, or trying to put people off replying by intimating that the post was actually of no consequence to the discussion.

If I were one of these people, which I'm not, I would sign off here with:

Spoiler:

One that causes me to shout at the television is much more better. Really grinds my gears. Just saying

I was pretty sure the next response would end with a just saying and you didn't disappoint. Well played Sir. I bid you good d... hang on a minute.

1GrumpyGolfer? Pennsylvania?

Anything you want to get off your chest regarding the OP?

People who have completely missed the meaning of 'I couldn't care less' and say 'I could care less'.

So you do care then?

I never understand that why people used such type of words.

Il Gialloblu wrote:I was pretty sure the next response would end with a just saying and you didn't disappoint. Well played Sir. I bid you good d... hang on a minute.

1GrumpyGolfer? Pennsylvania?

Anything you want to get off your chest regarding the OP?

Apologies for the very delayed response IG: Whatev's dude, just saying.