Pedants' Paradise

[amateur51]

Well, he wouldn't want his gems to go to waste - with something so good it makes sense to spread it around as much as possible.

You make him sound like a randy cat, Flossie

[Nick Armstrong]

You make him sound like a randy cat, Flossie

Tuk-tuk-tuk-tuk...

[Flosshilde]

?

[Nick Armstrong]

?

Are you unaware of french frank's 'taste and decency enforcement robot', flossie?

[Flosshilde]

I'm afraid I am - it hasn't come my way.







Or I haven't had the pleasure

[Pabmusic]

This one should have been easy. The BBC had a choice of two words, often given as examples of words to use with care. They chose the wrong one. Twice.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19659943

[David-G]

"How are you?" "I'm good" appears to be the way that the young respond to this question. I would hope that they were good. I would like to know if they are well.

I am glad that Sydney mentioned "train station". It is an abomination indeed.

[Pabmusic]

"How are you?" "I'm good" appears to be the way that the young respond to this question. I would hope that they were good. I would like to know if they are well.

I am glad that Sydney mentioned "train station". It is an abomination indeed.

Q: "How are you?"

A: "I'm good"

Q: "But how do you feel?"

A: "I'm well good"


[I used to take the train to London regularly. As it approached Euston, the guard would tell us that "The train terminates here". It always seemed so very final.]

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Andy Comfort, who does the BBC Radio Humberside Breakfast programme, has a "grammar police" slot twice per week. However, despite his passion for good grammar, he often says "the amount of people" rather than the "number of...". Only last week he was asked, "How are you, Andy", and he replied, "I'm good".

Perhaps people should try to discover the difference between an adverb and an and adjective.

[french frank]

The 'I'm good' is one of the classic cases of imitation. People hear it said and the young copy because they're still learning the language - yes, even at 20. Then the oldies copy them in order to be cool (do I put that in inverted copies or not?)

On the 'I'm good' outrage a person defends the usage. Is s/he an American? I assume so from the Americanisms ('Sure', 'Hey', 'likely' = probably).

I have checked the OED entries mentioned and I don't find an example similar to 'I'm good'. Most examples are adjectives referring to a stated noun - good heart, good mind, good health. There are also a few examples of 'to feel good', the earliest with an implication that they are Americanisms.

'I'm good' is a modernism, along with the repeated 'Good, good' where the normal usage would be 'Good' or 'That's good.'

[Flay]

"I'm good" is a simple shorthand for "I feel good" or well. It is quite meaningless really.

But isn't the question "how are you?" totally meaningless? Would we ever give a true answer? Would we ever want to hear a true answer?

[Flosshilde]

Perhaps, but "I am good" is not the same as "I feel good".

The only person that I know who uses "I'm good" is extremely irritating in other ways, too. Perhaps if I associated it with someone I liked more, I wouldn't find the expression quite so irritating?

"I'm/it's good to go" is an associated expression - what's wrong with "I'm/it's ready"?

[french frank]

"I'm good" is a simple shorthand for "I feel good" or well. It is quite meaningless really.

But isn't the question "how are you?" totally meaningless? Would we ever give a true answer? Would we ever want to hear a true answer?

They are phatic utterances which aren't (in most cases) designed to have a specific meaning. For some people, 'Nice weather' is similar. It's a way of engaging with someone else when you don't really have anything to say.

We already had a range of possible responses to the phatic, 'How are you?' - 'Very well, thank you', 'Fine thanks', 'Not too bad', 'Musn't grumble ', and so on. It's the widespread adoption of the newcomer, 'I'm good' that's interesting.

[Flosshilde]

On the 'I'm good' outrage a person defends the usage.

"and hope to finish off with one on I’m doing good in the future."

Enough said, I think

[greenilex]

I don't object to people wanting to sound cool or trendy or even Yank if they feel the need.

How I speak depends largely on who my interlocutor might be... how I write less so.