When I don’t have much else to talk about I like to look at our wonderful English language, which is full of sayings that contradict themselves or just don’t make much sense. Like when someone says they have come to an “initial conclusion” about something. That must come before the “final” conclusion?
We’ll hear about “partial cease fires” in a war zone. Is that when they’re only using some of their weapons? When thinking, someone will say they are “drawing a blank”. How does one do that exactly? In January I’ve heard the expression, “it’s cold as hell”. I beg your pardon?
I love it when CEO’s refer to their “corporate family”. Oh yeah sure as it’s really it comes down to one or the other thank you. Next you might have heard someone refer to things as “approximately equal”. I guess some things are more equal than others...
Then within sports there is that classic saying, “near miss” which, as we all know, is actually a “near hit” because if it’s a near miss then…crash! And then within a conversation I am sure you have heard someone say, “no comment”.
Sorry, but no comment is a comment.
To quote one of my favorite comedians, Gallagher. They wanted a new con, they needed more dough, they came up with Condo. Sometimes the truth is in the wording.
ReplyDeleteLol--you hit the nail on the head. No wonder foreigners find our language to be quite confusing :-)).
ReplyDeleteFirst, all I know is that - American people talks differently, than English people that in so many ways I am again fascinated , for they speaks the same language yet there's this difference that an attentive listener like me can easily noticed ...
ReplyDeleteyet ... wished I am good if not better to speak the tonque, smiles here*
Yep and then there is "I had a computer crash", now I did have some problems however the computer never ran into anything. :)
ReplyDeleteLaughing out loud with this one Susan but it's not all that loud really :)
ReplyDeleteoxymorons?
ReplyDeleteNeat Maritess! Now it's not neat as this study however it's rather neat to say the least. :)
ReplyDeleteSuch as?
ReplyDeleteLife would be so much simpler if we did away with half the words.
ReplyDeleteAh recently I heard a journalist say that when interviewing I could get a story full of more expression if I knew the person whom I'm interviewing native language. There's a whole lotta truth to that.
ReplyDeletewe just love making things up to make it sound good...only to sound stupid! lol. i love Gallagher. He really does point out all our word flaws.
ReplyDeleteAh english and the way we use it is interesting to say the least Rita.
ReplyDeleteA whole lotta :) Gotcha Cinn! :)
ReplyDeleteWhom is Gallagher?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWN9rTc08GU
ReplyDeleteJust came back and shall take a look...too cool he is kinda like George Carlin!
ReplyDeletethat he is!
ReplyDeleteIt's not just English.
ReplyDeleteLanguage (speech, the word) is a divine gift which we misuse.
DJ it is, we might misuse it but then again it's jargon as is slang and I think it can be fun when we look at it for what is is....
ReplyDeleteWithin every language there are slangs and the misuse of words but it's all within good taste I believe.
Enjoyed this very much...Kinda brings up a point of communication... as it is only humans who seem to need words...and words are so inadequate for the most part... Animals communicate instantly without sound... Now if we could learn their language ...lol (We already know it, we simply forgot how to use it)
ReplyDeleteNeat thought there Leveret, I always thought that cats and dogs could literally talk and sometimes say the funniest things :)
ReplyDelete"He wants to have his cake and eat it, too." (Well, if I had cake I'd want to eat it, too, wouldn't you? :))
ReplyDelete"One of a kind" (Any item is one of a kind. It should be "The only one of a kind.")
"Don't put all your eggs in one basket." ( Why would you carry two baskets of eggs if you could just carry one basket of eggs? The saying should be more like "you can carry all your eggs in one basket but make sure you have some bacon and bread also because if you only have eggs and you lose your eggs you'll be hungry but now if you lose your eggs you'll still have bread and bacon." Just rolls off the tongue doesn't it?)
~smiling~ It certainly does!
ReplyDeleteI did not mean misuse in a grammatical sense, but rather in the sense of practicing lying, deception, saying hateful things.
ReplyDeleteThe Creator has only to say "be" and it is, speech is very powerful. We can hurt and heal with our words. Animals do not have this kind of speech.
Very interesting!!
ReplyDeleteNever thought of it that way DJ...
ReplyDelete:)
ReplyDelete