Pedants' Paradise

[Bryn]

I think I say 'bored with'.

With me, it depends on the context. Either "with" or "by" but not "of".

[kernelbogey]

I think I say 'bored with'.

Aha! Now you mention it, so do I - but I think with different meanings.

If I am bored by something, I won't start it: there's a kind of absoluteness to it.

If I am bored with something, I will have started it... but decide to discontinue.

(Work in progress, maybe.)

[french frank]

Aha! Now you mention it, so do I - but I think with different meanings.

If I am bored by something, I won't start it: there's a kind of absolutness to it.

If I am bored with something, I will have started it... but decide to discontinue.

(Work in progress, maybe.)

[Serial_Apologist]

Bored of... applies to the jazz aficionados on this forum as a collective noun.

As in "Welcome to the jazz bored" for new forum members, as happens..............occasionally.

[gurnemanz]

I think I say 'bored with'.

So do I. "Bored of" sounds wrong to me but is widespread and on the march, no doubt by analogy with "tired of". Hard to make a case for "tired of" being OK and "bored of" being wrong. Being preferred by younger people it will not doubt prevail.

[Bryn]

So do I. "Bored of" sounds wrong to me but is widespread and on the march, no doubt by analogy with "tired of". Hard to make a case for "tired of" being OK and "bored of" being wrong. Being preferred by younger people it will not doubt prevail.

Like "How are you?"

"I'm good" rather than "I'm well, thank you".

[kernelbogey]

"I'm good" rather than "I'm well, thank you".

I continue to puzzle over this one, much used by some of my friends; I have not yet had the nerve to enquire why.... I think that it may mean, to them and other users, more than 'I am well': I suspect it is something like 'Everything in my life is fine at the moment - health, work, family [etc]'. But that is speculation on my part; it may be as simple as following a US-led trend.

[oddoneout]

I continue to puzzle over this one, much used by some of my friends; I have not yet had the nerve to enquire why.... I think that it may mean, to them and other users, more than 'I am well': I suspect it is something like 'Everything in my life is fine at the moment - health, work, family [etc]'. But that is speculation on my part; it may be as simple as following a US-led trend.

I have on (suitable)occasions responded to "I'm good", with "I know that but I was asking how you were."

[kernelbogey]

I have on (suitable)occasions responded to "I'm good", with "I know that but I was asking how you were."

[vinteuil]

.

... I perceive a difference of tone -

"I'm well" : definite, explicit, ends the interchange.
"I'm good" : more tentative, carries perhaps an implied "... in the circumstances", "... all things considered"

Neither usage offends me...

.

[kernelbogey]

.

... I perceive a difference of tone -

"I'm well" : definite, explicit, ends the interchange.
"I'm good" : more tentative, carries perhaps an implied "... in the circumstances", "... all things considered"

Neither usage offends me...

.

[french frank]

... I perceive a difference of tone - [ …] "I'm good" : more tentative, carries perhaps an implied "... in the circumstances", "... all things considered"

So all that remains, empirically, is to establish whether your perception coincides with the intention (since the question is often merely phatic, I think the reply might be judged in the same light, rather than as a considered response to an investigation into the state of one's health). Unless, of course, the conclusion is likely to offend.

[vinteuil]

.

... and talking of phatic, we were brung up to use the interchange -

Person A : "How d'ye do"
Person B : "How d'ye do"

To 'answer' what was not really a question was deemed bad form.

.

[french frank]

.

... and talking of phatic, we were brung up to use the interchange -

Person A : "How d'ye do"
Person B : "How d'ye do"

To 'answer' what was not really a question was deemed bad form.

.

True, if 'How do you do?' was the form of the question. Though one alternative might be a formulaic reply which did not have to match reality, followed by a similar phatic enquiry of the second party. In neither case was this to represent an exchange of information.

[LezLee]

I think I say 'bored with'.

I think I've always used 'bored with' though I don't mind 'bored by'.