Grrrrrr....pet language misusage peeve

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   daflaposted 15 years ago

   I'm a language snob.  I admit it.  I hate some of the "computerisms" of today.  But this is one of my absolute most hated, one that makes me grit my teeth every time I read it.
   
   People, it's VOILA!  It's a French word.  It's NOT wah-lah! or wala! or whooooooolah! --- it's VOILA!    The "V" is pronounced like a "vw" sound (vu-wah).  So it's actually prounounced like vu-wah'-oil-ah, of course, said very quickly.
   
   O.K., rant over.  It just bugs the s**t out of me, every time I see someone type "wah-lah" or some other stupid misspelling.
   
   Aint' the "dumbing down of America" great?  I learned this word in my 7th grade english class, when we were learning foreign words commonly used in the English language.

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      Maddie Ruudposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      I feel your frustration.  Just for clarification, the "oi" is what makes the "wah" sound in that word.  You can see it similarly used in the French word for three, "trois."

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         thranaxposted 15 years agoin reply to this

         Why do I have the feeling only the handful of ya seem to care at all?
         
         ~thranax~

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            daflaposted 15 years agoin reply to this

            Because you are a snot nosed brat.

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               thranaxposted 15 years agoin reply to this

               Yes I saw the wink, and aren't I not!
               
               ~thranax~
               
               ^_^

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         daflaposted 15 years agoin reply to this

         O.K., I stand corrected.  My Haitian friend helped me with the pronunciation, and their language is French creole, so maybe it's wrong.  She says they actually do pronounce the "l" as in "oil" in it.

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   Shadesbreathposted 15 years ago

   lol... I can't even give you a hard time about this given my recent rant hub on ridiculous. 
   
   Instead, I'll give you the dictionary phonetics to help your cause:  (vwä lä; Fr. vwa la')

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      daflaposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you, I was too P.O.'d to look it up! LOL

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   thranaxposted 15 years ago

   Well I guess thats all that needs to be said, wah-lah!
   
   ~thranax~
   
   (jking)

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      daflaposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Snot nosed brat, you are.

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         thranaxposted 15 years agoin reply to this

         That's nice.
         
         ~thranax~

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            daflaposted 15 years agoin reply to this

            You did see the *wink* didn't you?

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   LondonGirlposted 15 years ago

   "Eye-raq" and "eye-rahn" make me wince.
   
   Oh, and people who think Great Britain, England, and the United Kingdom are just the same thing, really!

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      daflaposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      I learned the hard way about the Great Britain, England, UK thing.  I called someone a "brit" once, and he said "What the hell is a brit?  I'm English!"  I still don't understand too much about  Great Britain vs United Kingdom, though.

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         LondonGirlposted 15 years agoin reply to this

         There are 3 parts to Great Britain - England, Wales, and Scotland. Then there is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
         
         The country is the UK - so, for example, there are MPs from England, Wales, Scotland and N. Ireland in the House of Commons, and the Prime Minister is PM of the UK.

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   coolbreezeposted 15 years ago

   Language is a fluid form of communication, If the other person understands what you are trying to say then it works for me. I was never stuck on proper usage of the English language because Americans do not speak proper English. Language communication is supposed to be fun. Have some fun with it. Make up your own words I always have.

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      daflaposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      American English is a conglomeration of many languages, and maybe the reason we don't speak British English is because it sounds snotty.   I guess when we decided we didn't want to "belong" to you anymore, we tossed your language out as well.  Makes sense to me.  And since when is "Pip pip" and "Cheerio" proper English?
      
      I'm stopping now, because I hate it when Brits attack anything American.  That is a class snobbery that goes back hundreds of years, and a grudge that will never end, and I just won't let  myself get drawn into it again.

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         LondonGirlposted 15 years agoin reply to this

         There may be lots of reasons why people attack American things, nothing to do with snobbery!
         
         If, for example, people say George Bush is thicker than a prawn sandwich, that isn't necessarily snobbery. Could just be a statement of the blindingly obvious.

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            Marian Swiftposted 15 years agoin reply to this

            I would take it as a simple statement of indisputable fact, though the comparison is a bit unfair.  To prawn sandwiches, that is.
            
            BBCAmerica is rapidly finding new outlets all across the U.S., and they use "Brit" a lot in their promos.  For some USians, it's their first glimpse at life across the pond.  So if U.K. readers "Brit" bandied about a lot, they may want to chalk it up to Amurricans being misinformed by a seemingly reliable source.

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            daflaposted 15 years agoin reply to this

            We say that he can't tie his shoelaces without help.  Nobody here much cares what you say about him.  On the other hand, saying we don't speak proper English is a direct attack on the entire country, and we won't stand for that.  Don't get me started, please.  The pond waters will be churning with blood!

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   Marian Swiftposted 15 years ago

   I love made-up words, and sorta-words like "humongous" and "bling."  And "ain't" should be a word, goshfarn it!  In fact, a couple of centuries or so ago, it was.
   
   And why are puns considered the lowest form of humor?  Never understood that.
   
   But I confess I have a major problem when actual words are misused (even when I do it) due to ignorance or carelessness.  That can really mess up communication, and defeat the purpose of having a language.

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      daflaposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      "Ain't" is a word.  I remember when it was put into the Webster's unabridged dictionary, my mother (from whence I learned my language snobbery) had a fit!  She always hated it when we used it.  She considered it "low class", and was always telling us to "stop murdering the King's English".  I many times had to remind her that we didn't have a king. 

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         Marian Swiftposted 15 years agoin reply to this

         Did we have the same mom???

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            daflaposted 15 years agoin reply to this

            I don't know, where are you from?  My mom might have popped out a kid I don't know about.

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               JYOTI KOTHARIposted 15 years agoin reply to this

                 Language is for communication . it varies from place to place country to country. Pronounciation varies quicker than language.
               We should not cricise each other but try to communicate. What is good in one place may be bad in another.
               
               Jyoti Kothari

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                  daflaposted 15 years agoin reply to this

                  Jyoti, you are such a peacemaker.  You should be in the U.N.  Of course, language is different  everywhere, and you are right that what is good in one language is bad in another.

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                     thranaxposted 15 years agoin reply to this

                     It's also basically bringing back that stupid saying...yeah that stupid one about tomatoes and potatoes? Yeah, you know what I'm talking about..that one that has the annoying tune and makes you just want to hit the person saying it...that gets to the tip of your nerves because you see it as one way and no matter how persistent you are what there saying is true so you can never win? Yea, that one.
                     
                     ~thranax~

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                     Marian Swiftposted 15 years agoin reply to this

                     Dafla ... I was born in New York, grew up in Hawaii and now live in California.  When I was little, my mom put "ain't" right up there with your earthier four-letter words.  She was just making sure I knew proper business English.  In fact, years later she confessed that she loved "ain't," too!
                     
                     Jyoti ... I applaud anyone's efforts to use English as a second language.  Often, newcomers bring a new dimension to a language, and that's precisely how English was born and how it developed over the centuries.  I enjoy the variety of flavors of English as used among English-speaking countries as well.
                     
                     But the state of homegrown U.S. English troubles me a lot.  Slang is fine.  Language is meant to be played with!  But it seems the basics aren't taught well, or at all, in many of our schools.   I read and hear too many English users who have no other language, but cannot use the one language they have.

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   LondonGirlposted 15 years ago

   Nothing wrong with Brit, in the sense that "Brit" is often used for someone who is from the UK. "UK-ian" doesn't have much of a ring to it!

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   Marisa Wrightposted 15 years ago

   I don't know why anyone would be upset by "Brit" or "British".   The English get offended if they're called Scottish, Irish or Welsh and vice versa. 
   
   The simple way to remember Great Britain vs. UK is that Great Britain is basically the island, the United Kingdom is the country (the island plus Northern Ireland).  Before I offend them, I should say that includes all the little associated islands like Scilly, Channel Isles etc.!
   
   I try very hard not to be judgmental about new words or corruptions of old ones - language is constantly evolving, after all, and some changes (especially where they simplify spelling) are overdue.  However I can't help but get annoyed about laziness and ignorance in the use of words!

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      thranaxposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Sighs, I still don't think it should make people upset.
      
      ~thranax~

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      LondonGirlposted 15 years agoin reply to this

      Not quite - the Isles of Scilly are 30-odd miles west of Land's End, in the middle of nowhere in the Atlantic, and are part of England (and therefore also GB and the UK).
      
      Other islands are also part of England (the Isle of Wight, Lundy Island) or Scotland (the Hebrides)  or Wales (Angelsey).
      
      But the Channel Islands are neither part of England, nor part of the UK. Neither are they in the EU. They are Crown Dependencies, and are made up of two , the Bailiwick of Guernsey (all the inhabited islands except Jersey) and the Bailiwick of Jersey, which includes various uninhabited islands.

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