Nah, they're always mutually understandable. It's a bit of a mystery for me why such variations emerged in the first place. English spellings have pretty ambiguous pronunciations, so the changes aren't improvements either. *Shrug* |
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The Anyone have showers in the dark? thread led me to wondering whether the phrase 'have a shower' or 'take a shower' is correct. I had always used them interchangeably, until one day I told a friend online that I was going to 'have a shower'. He said 'don't you mean "take a shower"?' Embarrassed, I said yeah, and from then on made sure to always use 'take'. |
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Nah, they're always mutually understandable. It's a bit of a mystery for me why such variations emerged in the first place. English spellings have pretty ambiguous pronunciations, so the changes aren't improvements either. *Shrug* |
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The thought of someone saying "have a shower" made me giggle. I grew up being very frustrated about whether I should spell color or colour. A set standard might be more convenient, but maybe this variety makes it more interesting lol |
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Last edited by Wayfaerer; 12-07-2011 at 10:08 PM.
'I could care less' doesn't even make sense to me. Isn't it supposed to express that you really don't care? If anything shouldn't it be 'I couldn't care less'? |
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That's what we say in England. |
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Last edited by Xei; 12-07-2011 at 10:20 PM.
You care so little you don't even care to care less, is what it means. OK? |
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"You don't know nuthin'!". |
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I hear people say "I could care less" all the time and I tend to reply with "you can?" They don't really think about the question and say "YEAH!" Saying you could care less tends to imply that you care enough to have the ability to care even less. |
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The worst thing that can happen to a good cause is, not to be skillfully attacked, but to be ineptly defended. - Frédéric Bastiat
I try to deny myself any illusions or delusions, and I think that this perhaps entitles me to try and deny the same to others, at least as long as they refuse to keep their fantasies to themselves. - Christopher Hitchens
Formerly known as BLUELINE976
I think all these derived from Hickspeak, which unfortunately seems to be an important part of American culture. |
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Can someone please tell me how and where "lieutenant" and "colonel" became "leftenant" and "kernel"?? |
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I've been in England for 2 months and I'm already starting to notice changes in how I phrase things in writing, (not so much spelling, just mainly phrasing/sentence construction) especially if I'm writing an email to a professor. I'm just now becoming aware of how much I stand out when I speaks, so that's likely to be affected next. |
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I've always said 'couldn't care less' and have had arguments with Americans over it. I've tried to explain to them why 'could care less' doesn't make sense but they insist it does anyway. |
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you're wrong, i could care less makes perfect sense: |
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So the idiom is supposed to express that you care? |
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The reason is because of the separation by distance. People will always have different ways of speaking, depending on where you go. You don't even have to go to Britain to see this. There are differences even within the US, depending on where you live. It goes along with having different accents as well. I noticed the color thing as well, and that applies to a ton of words ending with or, making it our. Second most common I see is armor, or armour. In that case I always use the American version because it is shorter and easier and looks nicer. |
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It doesn't mean anyone is beating a dead horse. Usually. |
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But that takes at least 95% of the fun out of idioms... |
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I always thought "leftenant" was a joke? |
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Lost count of how many lucid dreams I've had
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In another generation none of this will matter - textspeak will dominate all. It's already being said that we now live in a "postliterate" age. |
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