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3 Language-related Things Which Really Annoy Me.

1. Excuse, please.
Guys, it's "excuse me, please." Every time I hear this on the train I have to fight the urge to reply, "excuse who?" and not move aside.

2. Pronouncing the word "liaise" as "lie-us".
It's pronounced "lee-eh-zz", not "liars". I swear if I hear someone call me a liar(s) again I'm gonna punch him/her in the ear.

3. Could of, should of, would of, must of
It's could've, should've, would've, must've. Why the hell is that so hard to get???

Signed,
Ted
Your Friendly Neighbourhood Grammar Nazi
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Comments

  1. Jo5/7/09 9:06 pm

    You are so right Ted, especially about could of, should of. I even see it written in books. If you are a grammar Nazi I am right behind you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fadzlishah Johanabas8/7/09 5:06 pm

    I don't agree with number 1, Ted. People just use "Excuse". At least it would've sounded nicer with the "please" there.

    Number 3 is not restricted to Manglish. Even native US/UK use this. I've come across this in comments and blogs written by young/young adults.

    That aside, I used to find Manglish degrading and embarassing, especially when used in conversations with native English speakers. But after hearing the French, the Korean, the Indians, and such, using their own version(s) of mangled English, our version doesn't sound so bad. Interesting, even.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ted Mahsun8/7/09 5:20 pm

    Fadz, you're right with number 1. Sometimes I hear only "excuse" as well.

    About number 3, actually I was mainly thinking of the Americans when I wrote that. Maybe I should have made that more clear.

    I don't mind Manglish, but these are errors made by people who think they're not speaking manglish and are speaking proper English.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fadzlishah Johanabas8/7/09 6:48 pm

    People there nowadays use phonetic spelling. Their grammar can be atrocious too, their saving grace being the fact that they use that language on a daily basis. And the amount of illiterate children and teens in America? To think that some of them still think we live on trees.

    At least English phonetic usage isn't as much a nightmare as BM. My brother used to think that the proper word for 'ambil' (take) was 'amik' or 'ambik', as what we use regularly. Written Malay and spoken Malay can be two whole, differnt languages sometimes.

    ReplyDelete
  5. bibliobibuli19/7/09 9:44 am

    native speakers get the last one wrong quite often!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ted Mahsun19/7/09 10:52 am

    I've noticed! It always irks me, especially when I'm reading public forums.

    ReplyDelete
  7. dian nais20/7/09 3:12 pm

    dear ted.. nice entry..

    i also hear........

    1. "its mean".. when it should have been "it means"

    2. "wif"... when it should have been "with"..

    tq

    ReplyDelete
  8. Kryptonite28/7/09 10:55 pm

    I'm glad I found this post. I experience no. 1 a lot. I was taught to use 'excuse me' in the most polite tone that I could muster, as befits its purpose of 'minta izin, tumpang lalu ye'.

    The next time I hear 'ex-CYUUS!' behind me, I think I'll just reply without looking up, 'No. Go away.'

    Ah but then...

    Cheers,
    Faz

    ReplyDelete
  9. Iron Butterfly29/7/09 1:42 pm

    Another one - THAT'S MEAN!!! Arghh!! Tension okay.

    And each time I pronounced liaise correctly they will correct me back but emphasizing the word "LIE-US" to me. *sigh*

    ReplyDelete
  10. Asrif31/8/09 3:18 pm

    Haha Iron Butterfly is here.

    Let's not even get into 'your' and 'you're'. On the Internet forums, they are aplenty.

    ReplyDelete

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