* Since I have already been pulled up [alternate word: chastised] for this post, I am going to state at the very beginning, this is my opinion and it is not a judgement and I am not being condescending either - I do not understand it, it does not make it wrong!
So I'm going to take a break from stalking Robert Pattinson on youtube and write about rather ask why do people speak funny? It all started with a friend of mine who described one of her friends as a 'RAKE' - I mean the poor boy is like 24 yrs old and he likes to play the field because he can due to his excessive cuteness but no, she made him sound like a 40 yr old preying on the emotions of women everywhere. Who uses terms like that anymore? apart from my mother, of course - she has a 'paraoxysm' of coughing instead of a 'fit' like other normal people in addition to not having the 'werewithal' to do something - I would just say the 'means'. I then heard the funniest story of a friend's boss who told him not to 'obfuscate' the issues but he was an old Bengali so he gets excused on those grounds. However, my young Tam Friend was telling us the story of how her brother was conned by her parents into wearing a dress and jewellery at the age of 12 and she has no idea of how he 'aquiesced' to that - wouldn't you rather say 'agree'??
3 comments:
I'm better off with people who use old(er) English vis-a-vis silly english- the kind spoken (and accepted) in India...the "'revert back'/ 'i don't think so i can make it' etc variety. Singlish and its can, cannot, can also, cannot also, cannot also can, can also can, cannot also can is a whole other level of madness.
So in effect long live paraoxysm, wherewithal and luminescence, and while we are at it, evanescence!!
I'm all for verbal diversity. Nice to have some old words come back. And the rarely used words have nuances that the simpler ones don't.
Its the impact of "British English" in our schools. I've had loads of people look at me funny when I use certain words here (Canada). Ah well, good thing I didn't forget them all, going to need them again in a few months! ;)
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