Standard of English on BBC

[FLY2 10,108]

Like I've said on previous topics, if you want to speak as though you're from downtown Kingston, then f*** off to downtown Kingston. Sharpish !

[Guest]

Wid u on dat one blood.

[Chulla 4,946]

#72. Split infinitives - ah, now you are talking about the Grade-A stuff. I just love Henry Fowler's introduction to them in his masterwork Modern English Usage:

"Those who neither know nor care are the vast majority, & and are happy folk, to be envied by most of the minority classes".

99.9% of the people haven't a clue what split infinitives are, and as a rule they don't need to know because even when they do split an infinitive it still makes sense to the listener or the reader. The most famous split infinitive comes from Captain Kirk of the good ship Enterprise - "To boldly go where no man has gone before" It should be "to go boldly where no man has gone before". They go on ad infinitum.

But sometimes a split infinitive jars, it doesn't sound right, it sounds/looks awkward. Such errors do need to be corrected.

[Guest]

Ere Chulla i thought Harry Fowler was in da' Ealing films n that?

[Chulla 4,946]

#79

'enry not 'arry. Have you been in them shabeens again?

[FLY2 10,108]

He'll be ending up with a split infinitive if he's not careful.LOL

[DJBrenton 738]

 

Important enough not to split infinitives?

Split infinitives are fine as long as the meaning remains clear just as ending a sentence with a preposition is.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[letsavagoo 961]

I am in the process of transcribing some letters that were written by my grandfather to my grandmother during the First World War. He would seem to have been well educated and I note that he hyphenates the words to-morrow and week-end.

While I'm on I am going to publish transcripts of the letters via a Wordpress site as near to 100 years after they were written as is practical. The first I have is dated 16th June 1916. I'll put a link on here when it's done.

[Chulla 4,946]

Yes, letsavagoo, those words used to be hyphenated. So did 'to-day', but over time they have become concatenated (joined together). Also, it was common to see place-names with hyphens, e.g, Parliament-Street.

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

I'd be interested to read those letters. Both my grandfathers fought in the Great War and both were badly affected by it, as must have been the case with most who were involved. They rarely spoke about it other than to friends and neighbours who also served. We can think ourselves immensely lucky never to have witnessed the carnage they experienced.

[Michael Booth 7,364]

Jill Sparrow, that's true but there are many people who are still suffering from similar carnage around the world today.

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

Indeed they are which makes it even more tragic that my grandfathers' generation thought they had fought the war to end all wars.

[loppylugs 8,427]

It only took 22 years until they were at it again, which proves man learns nothing from history. Still haven't, but the next one might be the last. There are a few that say the one after WWIII will be with bows and arrows.

Or should that be, with "like" bows and arrows, Jill?

[DaveN 1,118]

This morning on BBC 1's Breakfast show the male presenter said "See you in a sec".

[FLY2 10,108]

I know we call them, but it's still infinitely better than ITV's banal and infantile efforts.

[banjo48 928]

We try and watch good British tv here in Oz, as most of our local output is dross.

Watching the medical documentary, 24hrs in Emergency, the other night we couldn't believe the way some of the younger generation spoke.

Is it cool to try and sound like a cross between a West Indian Rasta man and god knows what , and these were white kids !

Now not being racist here, just passing an opinion but we were shocked at the way some of these idiots were talking.

What hope is there for the future when this lot start breeding, shock horror, most already have !!!!!

[DJBrenton 738]

Your parents probably thought the same about you when you were young. Being 'cool' when young has, ever since teenagers were invented in the 50's, been, in part, about using slang, and quite often about acting more 'common' than your parents.

[FLY2 10,108]

Never ever used 'cool' language in my life. Bad and foul, yes definitely!