Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

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  • ahinton
    Full Member
    • Nov 2010
    • 16122

    Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View Post
    It seems to have been anti-semantic.
    Ah; that could explain a lot!

    Comment

    • P. G. Tipps
      Full Member
      • Jun 2014
      • 2978

      Originally posted by Richard Barrett View Post
      Yes I know, but that seems to me a nonsensical suggestion. "It's political correctness gone mad!"
      'It's political correctness gone mad!'

      A quite absurd phrase.

      It suggests that PCness was, at one time, sane.

      Comment

      • P. G. Tipps
        Full Member
        • Jun 2014
        • 2978

        I see a strange word recently used by the incomparably hyperbolic President Donald Trump .. 'bigly' ... is already in use on the BBC website.

        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.

        Susie Dent explores Americanisms in British English – should we love not loathe them?


        However, the very title of the programme already confirms my very worst fears ...

        Comment

        • vinteuil
          Full Member
          • Nov 2010
          • 12788

          Originally posted by P. G. Tipps View Post
          I see a strange word recently used by the incomparably hyperbolic President Donald Trump .. 'bigly' ... is already in use on the BBC website.
          ... lest we forget - "A Noble Spirit Embiggens The Smallest Man"

          Comment

          • french frank
            Administrator/Moderator
            • Feb 2007
            • 30243

            Originally posted by P. G. Tipps View Post
            I see a strange word recently used by the incomparably hyperbolic President Donald Trump .. 'bigly' ... is already in use on the BBC website.

            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.

            Susie Dent explores Americanisms in British English – should we love not loathe them?


            However, the very title of the programme already confirms my very worst fears ...
            It may not even have existed when Trump 'said' it: it does now:

            The Republican candidate appeared to use an unusual adverb in his debate against Hillary Clinton. Or did he?
            It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.

            Comment

            • jean
              Late member
              • Nov 2010
              • 7100

              Originally posted by P. G. Tipps View Post
              ...'bigly' ... is already in use on the BBC website...
              It's being discussed, but it's not being used on the BBC website any more than you're using it here.

              Comment

              • Richard Tarleton

                Originally posted by vinteuil View Post
                ... lest we forget - "A Noble Spirit Embiggens The Smallest Man"
                A cromulent word indeed

                Comment

                • french frank
                  Administrator/Moderator
                  • Feb 2007
                  • 30243

                  Originally posted by jean View Post
                  It's being discussed, but it's not being used on the BBC website any more than you're using it here.
                  It was used in a headline - not on the article but as a teaser.

                  Edit: Looks like it's been removed?
                  It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.

                  Comment

                  • P. G. Tipps
                    Full Member
                    • Jun 2014
                    • 2978

                    Originally posted by french frank View Post
                    It was used in a headline - not on the article but as a teaser.

                    Edit: Looks like it's been removed?
                    Yes it was ... and it has! ...

                    Comment

                    • jean
                      Late member
                      • Nov 2010
                      • 7100

                      I wondered if the mishearing of big league as bigly might owe something to the American tendency to stress final syllables of phrases less than we do - give a damn, Little Rock - but Americans seem as confused about this meme (for that's what it is!) as we are, and they're used to those stress patterns.

                      Comment

                      • vinteuil
                        Full Member
                        • Nov 2010
                        • 12788

                        Originally posted by jean View Post
                        I wondered if the mishearing of big league as bigly might owe something to the American tendency to stress final syllables of phrases less than we do - give a damn, Little Rock - but Americans seem as confused about this meme (for that's what it is!) as we are, and they're used to those stress patterns.
                        .

                        ... and if it was big league - interesting that the phrase has moved from being a noun - to an adjective - and finally (here) to an adverb.

                        A lexicographer with Merriam-Webster says Donald Trump isn’t making up words — he’s just using them all wrong.




                        .

                        Comment

                        • Bryn
                          Banned
                          • Mar 2007
                          • 24688

                          Seeing is believing?

                          Comment

                          • jean
                            Late member
                            • Nov 2010
                            • 7100

                            Originally posted by vinteuil View Post
                            ...and finally (here) to an adverb.
                            I think you mean post-verbal adjunct (thanks Bryn).

                            Comment

                            • P. G. Tipps
                              Full Member
                              • Jun 2014
                              • 2978

                              Whatever he actually did say 'bigly' does sound typically Trumpian ?.

                              After all Trump also did say 'braggadocious'.

                              However, we are informed by some that both are genuine if old-fashioned English words, a bit like 'gotten'.

                              Intriguing!

                              Comment

                              • P. G. Tipps
                                Full Member
                                • Jun 2014
                                • 2978

                                I see 'bigly' is now back in that headline on the first page of the BBC News website ...

                                Comment

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