Not sure if it's grammatically correct but I do really want to pull people up who say 'off of' or 'going to go'. I will never do it though in case I'm wrong.
Not sure if it's grammatically correct but I do really want to pull people up who say 'off of' or 'going to go'. I will never do it though in case I'm wrong.
Okay, I expect I'll get this wrong and get slaughtered. But in my defence, I did nearly fail my English O level.
The of in off of is superfluous and unnecessary (See what I did there!) However it's an idiom so in the spoken word, let it go. If it's written, then sack the author.
But going is either a noun, as in the going is good, or more commonly an adjective which needs to be attached to a noun. So, I am going home is fine but going forward is a solecism because forward is not a noun. (Except, maybe in football, if forward is a noun meaning the attacking part of the pitch.) So, going to go is wrong. Warning: anyone following my advice does so at their own risk and I accept no responsibility for physical injury or loss of earnings.
Yanks who omit the final letter 'i' when saying Aluminium. Drives me nuts.
A batch of aluminium arrived in the US with ALUMINUM on the packing or paperwork, hence why they spell it that way, or so I've been told. Still irks me when they say it, though, as it does when they sayd 'math' instead of 'maths'.
I'm with you Laurie. It really grates with me. I've told my grandchildren it's Aitch, but they won't have it. Their teacher pronounces it Haitch so they say it must be right.
I'd have a word with their teacher. if it's not nipped in the bud, he/she will be saying Millwall's supporters are a nice bunch of pacifists or other such inaccuracies.
Not sure if it's grammatically correct but I do really want to pull people up who say 'off of' or 'going to go'. I will never do it though in case I'm wrong.
"Going to go" is quite legitimate as the 'going' and 'go' in this construction usually have two different meanings. 'Going' referring to your intentions to do something in the future; 'go' referring to some sort of travel or movement. If I sated that, 'I am going to go to the toilet', you would understand that at sometime in the near future I plan to visit the smallest room in the house. If I typed that 'I am going to the toilet', it would imply much more urgency on my plans to go, or possibly even that I was typing this whilst actually sitting on the Polo seat. Just for the record, I am not.
Not sure if it's grammatically correct but I do really want to pull people up who say 'off of' or 'going to go'. I will never do it though in case I'm wrong.
"Going to go" is quite legitimate as the 'going' and 'go' in this construction usually have two different meanings. 'Going' referring to your intentions to do something in the future; 'go' referring to some sort of travel or movement. If I sated that, 'I am going to go to the toilet', you would understand that at sometime in the near future I plan to visit the smallest room in the house. If I typed that 'I am going to the toilet', it would imply much more urgency on my plans to go, or possibly even that I was typing this whilst actually sitting on the Polo seat. Just for the record, I am not.
Not sure if it's grammatically correct but I do really want to pull people up who say 'off of' or 'going to go'. I will never do it though in case I'm wrong.
"Going to go" is quite legitimate as the 'going' and 'go' in this construction usually have two different meanings. 'Going' referring to your intentions to do something in the future; 'go' referring to some sort of travel or movement. If I sated that, 'I am going to go to the toilet', you would understand that at sometime in the near future I plan to visit the smallest room in the house. If I typed that 'I am going to the toilet', it would imply much more urgency on my plans to go, or possibly even that I was typing this whilst actually sitting on the Polo seat. Just for the record, I am not.
Haha, a post I want to both like and LOL. You explained it perfectly well with a very funny example.
I remember we were taught that "be going to do something" means planning to do something.
Not necessarily planning to do it, more that you see it has something that will happen in the future. We're all going to die, but I don't think any of us are planning to do it, at least I hope not.
Yanks who omit the final letter 'i' when saying Aluminium. Drives me nuts.
A batch of aluminium arrived in the US with ALUMINUM on the packing or paperwork, hence why they spell it that way, or so I've been told. Still irks me when they say it, though, as it does when they sayd 'math' instead of 'maths'.
And another urban myth busted. Turns out it was originally called alumium by its discoverer, then aluminum or aluminium as you preferred, with the former eventually sticking in the US after decades of either being in use and the latter pretty much immediately gaining preference in the UK. http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/aluminium.htm
Sorry to break this to you Micky, but the guy who founded Nike says it's pronounced Nikey, as in, to rhyme with Micky.
Trouble is he only seemed to correct everybody about 25 years later. Old boys like me got used to the old pronunciation! A bit like Kim Bassinger later becoming Kim "Bay-singer".
Really old boys back in ancient Greece pronounced it rhyming with Mikey. Nike (Νίκη) is the Greek goddess of victory so I think they probably new how to say it.
Having looked at this in more detail, at the time Nike was named, the 'η' (now eta, then heta) was used to indicate rough breathing, meaning it probably would be more like Nikhgh than Nik-e, but certainly not just one syllable like Mike.
Will you be my friend? My four credits short of a Classics minor is used far too infrequently.
For what it's worth I'm in the process of moving to Eugene, OR where Nike was founded. We pronounce it "Nike-ee," but I try to be pretty laissez-faire about pronunciation given that I pronounce things strangely.
That said, "Knockaert" and "Belgiums" have been driving me MENTAL thank you so much for saying what is in my heart @Sillybilly.
@SDAddick, I'll happily be your friend, as long as you're not going to stalk me. if you move, will you no longer be SDAddick?
Lieutenant is pronounced Leftenant. It's not difficult America.
And Jagger, it's 'Off my cloud' not 'Off of my cloud'.
Okay so I've found myself answering all the Americanisms. WHERE'S THE "F"?!?!?! Do you same "in 'left' of" or "in 'loo' of" for lieu? It's a word with what I guess are French roots, and in French I believe it would be "oo" not "ef."
@Oakster, that's a North American thing. It's ironic because it seems to be the only "h" some of my English friends pronounce.
Sue Barker does it all the time as does Barry Davies.
It's actually the same case as the ones I mentioned above, right? An imaginary letter 'r' added to the end of a word which subsequently affects the pronunciation of the next word? Am I right?
It's because we run the words into each other, essentially saying "idearof" instead of two separate words, "idea of", which is how someone who had elocution lessons, or was brunged up proper, would say it.
Er... I think you missed my point. I know how to 'run words into each other', but I always think that usually it's only when the word ends with a consonant and the following word begins with a vowel that you can link the two words to pronounce? For example, 'tear apart' can be pronounced /'tɛərə'pɑ:t/, because the word 'tear' ends with the rhotic R. It's the same with 'for example', 'stare at', 'for us', etc. But! The word 'idea' ends with 'ea'. It's a non-rhotic word so if you pronounce it like /ai'diərəv/ it means you have specifically changed the syllable structure of the word 'idea' and added the rhotic R to the end of it....
Not sure if I'm being clear enough here. But the OP SillyBilly must know what I'm talking about.
@JessieAddick I wasn't saying we are doing the right thing by running the words into each other, but that's what some of us do. I know it's not how it should be pronounced, I'm just saying some of us pronounce it that way because of the way English is spoken where we were brought up, in my case the poorer parts of south-east London.
My mother-in-law tried to pick up my daughter on the fact that there is a t in Charlton yesterday. YES, BUT IT IS SILENT.
I think most of us are guilty of 'gunna' if from around these parts. 'I'm just gunna pop down the shops' etc...
My missus who is not common (and if she had married someone else could almost claim to be middle class) always says 'je' instead of 'do you'. 'Je want a blowjob darling?' Well, not if you are going to speak in that South Bermondsey accent I reply. I have standards.
If you want to stop her speaking in that accent, just say 'Yes'!
Apologies if already done.............Curbishley .....cannot remember if he ever said in interview 'we were'....always 'we was'. Many other London originating managers do the same such as Pardew still to this day.
Man goes into a bakers and asks for slice of the Black Forest Gattocks The Girl behind the Counter says: It's pronounced Gateaux!' I'm sorry, says the man, how much is a slice of Gateaux?' 7 Pounds a slice, she says, Bolleaux to that he says and walks out.
Sorry to break this to you Micky, but the guy who founded Nike says it's pronounced Nikey, as in, to rhyme with Micky.
Trouble is he only seemed to correct everybody about 25 years later. Old boys like me got used to the old pronunciation! A bit like Kim Bassinger later becoming Kim "Bay-singer".
Really old boys back in ancient Greece pronounced it rhyming with Mikey. Nike (Νίκη) is the Greek goddess of victory so I think they probably new how to say it.
Having looked at this in more detail, at the time Nike was named, the 'η' (now eta, then heta) was used to indicate rough breathing, meaning it probably would be more like Nikhgh than Nik-e, but certainly not just one syllable like Mike.
Will you be my friend? My four credits short of a Classics minor is used far too infrequently.
For what it's worth I'm in the process of moving to Eugene, OR where Nike was founded. We pronounce it "Nike-ee," but I try to be pretty laissez-faire about pronunciation given that I pronounce things strangely.
That said, "Knockaert" and "Belgiums" have been driving me MENTAL thank you so much for saying what is in my heart @Sillybilly.
@SDAddick, I'll happily be your friend, as long as you're not going to stalk me. if you move, will you no longer be SDAddick?
I already have moved. If you're going to be my friend it's best you know I don't always think things through. I'm still SDAddick, but every day, every post, feels like a lie.
My mother-in-law tried to pick up my daughter on the fact that there is a t in Charlton yesterday. YES, BUT IT IS SILENT.
I think most of us are guilty of 'gunna' if from around these parts. 'I'm just gunna pop down the shops' etc...
My missus who is not common (and if she had married someone else could almost claim to be middle class) always says 'je' instead of 'do you'. 'Je want a blowjob darling?' Well, not if you are going to speak in that South Bermondsey accent I reply. I have standards.
If you want to stop her speaking in that accent, just say 'Yes'!
That's very true indeed. I don't think it is a long term cure though. It just rolls off her tongue far to easily.
Comments
The of in off of is superfluous and unnecessary (See what I did there!) However it's an idiom so in the spoken word, let it go. If it's written, then sack the author.
But going is either a noun, as in the going is good, or more commonly an adjective which needs to be attached to a noun.
So, I am going home is fine but going forward is a solecism because forward is not a noun. (Except, maybe in football, if forward is a noun meaning the attacking part of the pitch.) So, going to go is wrong.
Warning: anyone following my advice does so at their own risk and I accept no responsibility for physical injury or loss of earnings.
The Girl behind the Counter says: It's pronounced Gateaux!'
I'm sorry, says the man, how much is a slice of Gateaux?'
7 Pounds a slice, she says,
Bolleaux to that he says and walks out.
I'll get me coat!