I hear this often and it bothers me! - Page 7

hennypenny · ‎03-10-2010

Quite often lately, I have been hearing people saying "whenever" instead of when.

Actually it is on tv that I hear this. I go crazy!

stevieb · ‎03-10-2010

@just bee wrote:
@chrystaltree wrote:
I haven't heard that since I was 9 years old but I do hear other forms of bad grammar that drive me crazy. When I hear it, it's like nails on a chalkboard. Then I forget it and just concentrate on what is being said, not how it's said. I'm 55 and I truly do not want to become one of those older people who nit picks over things that really aren't important.
Teachers were once paid to nitpick. It was their job to prepare students to read, write and speak. They didn't care if they were judgmental. Now they don't dare correct a student. Red ink on a paper may be too traumatizing.

Or worse, it might be 'insensitive' (gasp...) to correct a cultural thing... So I guess anything goes. Whatever...

For the record, I don't necessarilty think one is 'judging' someone by their command of the spoken language but I believe most of us make assessments about their level or literacy and fluency, which doesn't equate to what or how they might be as people.

In my pantry with my cupcakes...

Moonchilde · ‎05-23-2010

@fortune wrote:
@Starpolisher wrote:
People saying..." I seen..." instead of " I saw..."
I hear it everywhere including media.
Please people speak correctly! This makes me cringe and sounds ignorant in my opinion.
Please don't start telling me there are more important things in life or to get over it. I'm just making an observation and voicing my opinion.

I agree! The minute a person says it, my opinion of them changes. . .

This. I understand the whole thing of wanting to speak like one's peers while in school, and so fighting being encouraged to use correct grammar - it's what kids do. And then it becomes a lifelong thing, to speak as one has always spoken a d as the people around you speak. I get it.

BUT - people who know, as adults, that they are using poor grammar (and people do KNOW, unless they spend their entire lives as hermits not watching TV or conversing with others) and continue to speak incorrectly, *are* judged by those who do speak correctly. Their choice speaks to ....their *choice.*

Okay if 90% of the time they are speaking with those who speak as they do - but it can and does cost people jobs, promotions, all sorts of advancements, plus others' opinion of their choice not to care. They limit themselves socially (including on forums) and job/careerwise.

Spelling and grammar are either correct, or not. PRONUNCIATION is a different animal. The way words are pronounced with regional accents may grate on my ears, but that's about it. Using incorrect grammar is not the same as pronouncing words differently than I do because someone lives in a different state/area than I do. I might shudder when I hear it, but it isn't always "wrong", just regional.

We never used to hear this on TV and radio because people in broadcasting were forced to lose their regional accents or they couldn't get jobs. Then some bright person decided it would make regional audiences feel warm & fuzzy if their broadcasters spoke like "just folks." That was the end of uniform speech in broadcasting. Sigh.

Life without Mexican food is no life at all

Pearlee · ‎06-11-2011

@Daisy wrote:
I know someone who says"bayg" instead of "bag". She said that's the way she says it. She must think she sounds cute or something. Well, she doesn't.

@Daisy Sunflower That's also a regional thing. I feel the same way about people who say "pooosh" for "push" which is also regional.

MaggieMack · ‎10-01-2014

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. - Aesop

151949 · ‎03-09-2010

What i find hysterical is when someone has a strong regional accent but doesn't think they do and they go around correcting other people's speech. We have several neighbors from the NYC and New England areas who do this - they make fun of mine and another Pittsburgh neighbor's accent - meanwhile they have accents that are even more pronounced than our Pittsburghese. They don't "get it" when they correct someone speech and everyone laughs. At least I know I do have an accent and when someone is rude enough to point it out I say I came by it honestly and I'm proud to be from Pittsburgh because Pittsburgh has a reputation of having exceptionally friendly and hard working people.

ScarletDove · ‎07-11-2010

Starpolisher said: I retired from teaching in June.

So let me understand this. I was being judgemental by trying to teach my students correct grammar. It doesn't matter how one speaks as long as they are a good and caring person.

According to you, my career was a waste of time. I wonder if you are a parent? What would you think if you heard your child's very caring teacher saying " I seen...?" Believe me where I taught there were young teachers who spoke just as incorrectly as the students.

Someone here said that "teachers were paid to "nitpick." Well to that I say, Thank you! Thank you to all the "nitpicking" teachers and adults who took the time to teach me the correct way! Thank you to the parents who took the time to correct me when I said "sumpin" or "nuttin" when I should have said "something and nothing." Thank you for not letting it go because I was a sweet girl who didn't give anyone any problems. I appreciate all of your tireless efforts for teaching me how to present myself. Thank you for not allowing me to sound void of having "a free public education in the United States of America." For this I am very grateful!

You, Starpolisher, are very much like the teachers I experienced in my formative elementary years--I am 73. I learned to appreciate the English language and how to use it to express myself appropriately. My mother was schooled through the 8th grade, she knew how to use the English language. I corrected my children when they were growing up and they too, speak with an understanding of the English language. Your kind of philosophy, patience, persistence and diligence was why I learned and no doubt many young people have learned from you. Thank you, Starpolisher!

just bee · ‎03-10-2010

@Moonchilde wrote:
@fortune wrote:
@Starpolisher wrote:
People saying..." I seen..." instead of " I saw..."
I hear it everywhere including media.
Please people speak correctly! This makes me cringe and sounds ignorant in my opinion.
Please don't start telling me there are more important things in life or to get over it. I'm just making an observation and voicing my opinion.

I agree! The minute a person says it, my opinion of them changes. . .

This. I understand the whole thing of wanting to speak like one's peers while in school, and so fighting being encouraged to use correct grammar - it's what kids do. And then it becomes a lifelong thing, to speak as one has always spoken a d as the people around you speak. I get it.

BUT - people who know, as adults, that they are using poor grammar (and people do KNOW, unless they spend their entire lives as hermits not watching TV or conversing with others) and continue to speak incorrectly, *are* judged by those who do speak correctly. Their choice speaks to ....their *choice.*

Okay if 90% of the time they are speaking with those who speak as they do - but it can and does cost people jobs, promotions, all sorts of advancements, plus others' opinion of their choice not to care. They limit themselves socially (including on forums) and job/careerwise.

Spelling and grammar are either correct, or not. PRONUNCIATION is a different animal. The way words are pronounced with regional accents may grate on my ears, but that's about it. Using incorrect grammar is not the same as pronouncing words differently than I do because someone lives in a different state/area than I do. I might shudder when I hear it, but it isn't always "wrong", just regional.

We never used to hear this on TV and radio because people in broadcasting were forced to lose their regional accents or they couldn't get jobs. Then some bright person decided it would make regional audiences feel warm & fuzzy if their broadcasters spoke like "just folks." That was the end of uniform speech in broadcasting. Sigh.

And what about what we refer to as the Golden Age of Hollywood? Actors were taught how to speak. Elocution. Does anyone believe Vincent Price was born speaking that way? He was from Missouri. True, he was well-educated and well-traveled, but he never pretended he grew up speaking that way. My mother's family were Italian immigrants. I loved to listen to her speak because her speech was molded by the Hollywood actresses of the era. She watched movies in the 30s and 40s (and listened to the radio) and that's how she learned. She was born in Erie, PA but had no regional dialect.

Personally, I'm fascinated by all the different regional dialects and I like to guess where people grew up. But if Vincent Price hadn't cultivated that voice...

Speaking of movies, think about My Fair Lady and Singin' in the Rain.

~My philosophy: Dogs are God's most perfect creatures. Angels, here on Earth, who teach us to be better human beings.~

just bee · ‎03-10-2010

@151949 wrote:
What i find hysterical is when someone has a strong regional accent but doesn't think they do and they go around correcting other people's speech. We have several neighbors from the NYC and New England areas who do this - they make fun of mine and another Pittsburgh neighbor's accent - meanwhile they have accents that are even more pronounced than our Pittsburghese. They don't "get it" when they correct someone speech and everyone laughs. At least I know I do have an accent and when someone is rude enough to point it out I say I came by it honestly and I'm proud to be from Pittsburgh because Pittsburgh has a reputation of having exceptionally friendly and hard working people.

I'd mentioned the PBS documentary from the 80s that showcased American regional dialects and common expressions/colloquialisms that were so different that it was as if people weren't speaking the same language at all. If memory serves, people in the Pittsburgh area referred to rubber bands as gum bands. Is that true? As people move around the country, I suspect many of these differences are becoming extinct. That's a shame. It's what makes our language so fascinating. Think of the different ways we refer to food items. Yet we manage to understand each other.

~My philosophy: Dogs are God's most perfect creatures. Angels, here on Earth, who teach us to be better human beings.~

hckynutjohn · ‎06-15-2015

@Starpolisher wrote:
People saying..." I seen..." instead of " I saw..."
I hear it everywhere including media.
Please people speak correctly! This makes me cringe and sounds ignorant in my opinion.
Please don't start telling me there are more important things in life or to get over it. I'm just making an observation and voicing my opinion.

Everyone has their own observations and opinions, and you are just stating yours. I don't view a persons manner of speaking and/or their choice of words as sounding ignorant.

I have however heard many highly educated individuals, speak perfect diction with correct definitions of each and every word. But the content of WHAT they said? It goes way beyond sounding ignorant and many times reveals their lack of common sense.

What/how and the content of something anyone says rarely bothers me. If it is something in which I strongly believe being attacked or falsely misrepresented? Regardless of the choice of grammar, it will certainly bother me, and enough so for me to respond.

That is how I observe and react when someone speaks.

hckynut(john)