Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[gurnemanz]

I would take "talk big" as a set phrase with "big" not an adverb describing the way the person is talking but an adjective describing the person (or the way the person would like to appear). Perhaps a bit like "He smells bad", describing not the manner of smelling but the person in question.

[jean]

Yes - that's why I think 'talk bigly' in that particular example is a hypercorrection.

[french frank]

That particular example looks to me like a hypercorrection of the more usual 'talk big'.

Except that the OED gives eight examples, dating from c 1380. I doubt they could have been called 'hypercorrection'. But the meaning is the same as 'talk big' which may therefore be the hypercorrection.

The earliest use of 'big' (think big, talk big &c) seems to be:

a1616 Shakespeare Taming of Shrew (1623) iii. iii. 100 Nay, looke not big, nor stampe, nor stare.

To see the complete idiom (form and meaning) as 'standard English' seems reasonable. 'To vote bigly' seems … goodness knows what! An attempt to be cool? Like being quick to pick up phrases like 'think outside the box', 'push the envelope' or - dare I say? - 'a big ask'? No reason why one shouldn't - that's language.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

For those like myself who readily confess to 'having a thing' about this constant Americanis(z)ation of what is curiously termed 'British English' there promises to be an interesting programme on R4 at 10.30 tomorrow morning.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08qxd02

Thanks to AMcG playing an excerpt from an especially naff CD (violin, piano, and a '70s trim phone) I switched over in time for this splendid, myth-debunking programme, which I thoroughly recommend to all followers of this Thread. (Some of us might need an extra Ramipril or two, though! :biglygrin: )

[Serial_Apologist]

Thanks to AMcG playing an excerpt from an especially naff CD (violin, piano, and a '70s trim phone) I switched over in time for this splendid, myth-debunking programme, which I thoroughly recommend to all followers of this Thread. (Some of us might need an extra Ramipril or two, though! :biglygrin: )

I'm on those!!!

[french frank]

Have we had: "Don't get me wrong"? (Usually followed by: "I'm not … ")

If you think there's a risk you will be got wrong about something, shouldn't you be more explicit in the first place?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'm on those!!!

I'm a member of the Amlodipine People's Front, messeln - but we can still be friends.

[Bryn]

Amlodipine People's Front!? Splitters! Joining up with the Simvastatin League to cause trouble.

[Serial_Apologist]

Amlodipine People's Front!? Splitters! Joining up with the Simvastatin League to cause trouble.

So long as it keeps the clots at bay!

[ahinton]

So long as it keeps the clots at bay!

I imagine that you'd need rather more than just statins to do that!

[P. G. Tipps]

Thanks to AMcG playing an excerpt from an especially naff CD (violin, piano, and a '70s trim phone) I switched over in time for this splendid, myth-debunking programme, which I thoroughly recommend to all followers of this Thread. (Some of us might need an extra Ramipril or two, though! :biglygrin: )

Mostly informative and interesting programme presented by some kiddie-presenter finally lecturing the more mature R4 listener what they should think about the Americanisation of 'British' English.

I did enjoy the part, though, when some aged and long-forgotten rock star called "Marty Wilde" enthused about how 'cool' and exciting-sounding the American word 'wow' was/is to him only to be corrected by the kiddie-presenter at the end that it was actually first heard in 15th Century Scotland !

That particular revelation came as no huge surprise to some though ...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The "kiddie presenter" is 52-year-old Suzy Dent, MA - the lexicographer and etymologist, who has been the referee on Countdown for the past 25 years.

[P. G. Tipps]

The "kiddie presenter" is 52-year-old Suzy Dent, MA - the lexicographer and etymologist, who has been the referee on Countdown for the past 25 years.

She's undoubtedly a mere 'kiddie' to this Baby-Boomer ...

So Suzy went to Oxford and was awarded a Masters Degree ?. So did David Cameron, MA (By Seniority).

[Pulcinella]

She's undoubtedly a mere 'kiddie' to this Baby-Boomer ...

So Suzy went to Oxford and was awarded a Masters Degree ?. So did David Cameron, MA (By Seniority).

Susie [sic] at least studied a real subject, not that abomination PPE!

From her wiki entry:
Born in Woking, Surrey,[1] Dent was educated at the Marist Convent in Ascot, an independent Roman Catholic day school.[2] She went on to Somerville College, Oxford for her B.A. in modern languages, then to Princeton University for her master's degree in German.[3]

[teamsaint]

Susie [sic] at least studied a real subject, not that abomination PPE!

From her wiki entry:
Born in Woking, Surrey,[1] Dent was educated at the Marist Convent in Ascot, an independent Roman Catholic day school.[2] She went on to Somerville College, Oxford for her B.A. in modern languages, then to Princeton University for her master's degree in German.[3]

Interesting that she went to school in Ascot, which is where by chance I heard her give a short talk not so long ago.

No that exciting, to be fair............