Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[vinteuil]

I watch quite a lot of online programmes, and can't cope with (I'm getting the shakes) a prevalent expression. It's ... (dare I?) something that crops up all the time in American videos. Is it common in the UK? It goes like this - the narrator makes a statement, or more often emphasises a point: -

He says, "Hey! - we should do this..." Or, "Hey! - we should do that...". "I said to him 'Hey! - I didn't want you to react like that". "I saw her and said 'Hey! - why don't we...?'" Ad inf. ...

Hey! - what's happening?

Hey!

... but wd you prefer the British equivalent :

"So - we should do this..." Or, "So - we should do that...". "So I said to him 'So - I didn't want you to react like that'". "So I saw her and said 'So! - why don't we...?'"


.

[Pabmusic]

... but wd you prefer the British equivalent :

"So - we should do this..." Or, "So - we should do that...". "So I said to him 'So - I didn't want you to react like that'". "So I saw her and said 'So! - why don't we...?'"


.

[Sigh]

Of course, silly me!

Hey!

[Pabmusic]

That looks like a high pollen count.

It's too early for that!

Hey!

[Pabmusic]

Pabs: it's probably this weather we're having - they're making Hey! while the sun shines

I'll get me (very lightweight) coat...

Hey! What have I started?

[LezLee]

Isn't a 'presentee' somebody to whom a present is presented by a presenter?

Yes, I've always understood the 'ee' was used for the recipient of something, but you often see numbers of attendees at a meeting. My first encounter with this usage was when I first moved to Scotland and saw notices on the buses - '52 seated, 12 standees' which I found amusing for some reason.

[french frank]

My first encounter with this usage was when I first moved to Scotland and saw notices on the buses - '52 seated, 12 standees' which I found amusing for some reason.

I was always intrigued by Scottish clerk/clerkess. (Now tell me it's quite common in the north of England )

But I've been trying to work out the origin of 'absentee' and why it seems quite acceptable. Is it that it can have a reflexive idea which gives it an 'object'? An absentee being one who has absented oneself? Whereas an employee is someone who is employed by someone else, either expressed or understood by the passive.

Second thought: You can have people attending or standing, but that 'shouldn't' convert into attendee and standee. But you can't have someone absenting (without some qualifying word).

[LezLee]

"I was always intrigued by Scottish clerk/clerkess. (Now tell me it's quite common in the north of England )"

Nope. Never heard it anywhere actually. I don't think there are many clerks these days, they all have fancy titles.

[french frank]

Nope. Never heard it anywhere actually. I don't think there are many clerks these days, they all have fancy titles.

"Clerkess in wages scam stole £30,000 in a year" [Aberdeen] Press and Journal, 26 July 2012

As I was based in Aberdeen, perhaps it was confined to the North-East.

[LeMartinPecheur]

"Clerkess in wages scam stole £30,000 in a year" [Aberdeen] Press and Journal, 26 July 2012

As I was based in Aberdeen, perhaps it was confined to the North-East.

When it seems that the word actress has been abolished, it's odd to be inventing clerkesses!

[LezLee]

I remember hearing on programmes like the Antiques Roadshow that Clarice Cliff and her contemporaries were called paintresses, meaning specifically women who decorated pottery, not just female painters.

[kernelbogey]

Today from the BBC: "In the 1880s, the US passed legislation barring Chinese workers from immigrating to the US".

I've heard this, possibly as US usage.

Perhaps it reflects (in the US) a current climate of anxiety over immigration and thus preferring the word representing incoming/arrival over the one reflecting departure?

[french frank]

Today from the BBC:

"In the 1880s, the US passed legislation barring Chinese workers from immigrating to the US".

I'm still trying to work out what's wrong …

[LezLee]

I've heard this, possibly as US usage.

Perhaps it reflects (in the US) a current climate of anxiety over immigration and thus preferring the word representing incoming/arrival over the one reflecting departure?

I suppose they couldn't prevent people emigrating i.e. leaving China and arriving on US shores, but they could stop them immigrating i.e. entering the US? I think it's correct.

[Serial_Apologist]

I'm still trying to work out what's wrong …

Immigrating into the US sounds less clumsy, wouldn't one say? Immigrating to suggests they arrive at the US but that's as far as they get, whether allowed to proceed in or not.

[kernelbogey]

Comin' over 'ere, subvertin' our language....