Cato's Grammar Grumble

Started by Cato, February 08, 2009, 05:00:18 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

Cato

I am temporarily in the center of Ohio, home of certain television reporters who are very inept with the English language.

This morning - (and I am not making this up, sadly) - a 30-something, becoming the victim of a scrambled vocabulary on camera, used the following word quite naturally, as if he had used it often:


"...un-understansible.


I believe the full statement was similar to: "Everybody seemed to like Jack's Restaurant.   Why it closed down is just un-understansible!"


While this curious coinage is comprestandible, I suspect it will not catch on!   8)


"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Cato

"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

André

How do you un-un something ? 🧐

Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

JBS

Although in this case the un is part of "under", so one under-stands something.
It might help to point to the German verb meaning "understand" is verstehen, while the verb meaning "stand" is stehen.

This does raise the question why we don't refer to lack of understanding as overstanding. Such are the quirks of English.

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

André

Sometimes, avoiding quirkiness is an underarching consideration.

steve ridgway

A few years ago, for the sake of filling in the gaps in the periodic table, the as yet undiscovered chemical elements up to 118 were given temporary names such as Ununtrium (113), Ununpentium (115), Ununseptium (117) and Ununoctium (118). These are now known as Nihonium, Moscovium, Tennessine and Oganesson.

Karl Henning

Quote from: steve ridgway on June 18, 2022, 06:14:58 AM
A few years ago, for the sake of filling in the gaps in the periodic table, the as yet undiscovered chemical elements up to 118 were given temporary names such as Ununtrium (113), Ununpentium (115), Ununseptium (117) and Ununoctium (118). These are now known as Nihonium, Moscovium, Tennessine and Oganesson.

At a semi-wild guess, I wonder if Tennessine is associated with the Oak Ridge labs....
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Florestan

Quote from: steve ridgway on June 18, 2022, 06:14:58 AM
A few years ago, for the sake of filling in the gaps in the periodic table, the as yet undiscovered chemical elements up to 118 were given temporary names such as Ununtrium (113), Ununpentium (115), Ununseptium (117) and Ununoctium (118). These are now known as Nihonium, Moscovium, Tennessine and Oganesson.

That's where David Cameron must have taken the inspiration for his Unobtainium from...  ;D
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

steve ridgway

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on June 18, 2022, 06:21:12 AM
At a semi-wild guess, I wonder if Tennessine is associated with the Oak Ridge labs....

Yes, didn't know you were into nuclear physics Karl. ;)

Karl Henning

Quote from: steve ridgway on June 18, 2022, 06:46:41 AM
Yes, didn't know you were into nuclear physics Karl. ;)

No, but a previous girlfriend hailed from Oak Ridge. She was nuclear by association :)
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Florestan

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on June 18, 2022, 06:54:06 AM
No, but a previous girlfriend hailed from Oak Ridge. She was nuclear by association :)

I presume you two had some hot fusions...  ;)
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Karl Henning

A good article, but the headline manages to mis-parse Henry V.

Cassidy Hutchinson Held Their Manhoods Cheap
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

coffee

Quote from: JBS on June 17, 2022, 02:16:30 PM
Although in this case the un is part of "under", so one under-stands something.
It might help to point to the German verb meaning "understand" is verstehen, while the verb meaning "stand" is stehen.

This does raise the question why we don't refer to lack of understanding as overstanding. Such are the quirks of English.

A language with very derstandable rules, perhaps.
Liberty for the wolf is death for the lamb.

Cato

From an article about a Broadway brouhaha:

"... We found the few good things people had said, stood by her, and kept going. The critics were not wrong, but we tried to major on (her) sweetness and innocence..."

??? ??? ??? "to major on"

In a university or college you can major in a subject.  Obviously that is a completely different context.

And so, what is wrong with "we tried to focus on (or upon)..." ?

Broadway slang of some sort?  If so, it fails our tests of wit and nuance!   0:)   8)
"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)

Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

DaveF

On the BBC News website today:

"Four Vietnamese men missing after mill fire named"

Not really a subject for jokes, I appreciate, but I do wonder what they named it.
"All the world is birthday cake" - George Harrison

Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Cato

#4839
Life has prevented me from placing even some of the Grammar Gremlins from the past months.


Here is an interesting one from a frozen-yogurt emporium's bulletin board: a poster from a local university.


"REGISTER FOR THIS SUMMER'S

WOMEN'S SOCCER ID CAMP???  ???  ???

AND PREPARE TO COMPETE ON THE COLLEGE LEVEL!"

So, I am sure you are wondering what a "women's soccer id* camp" could be!

My first guess: a camp where you need to find your inner soccer-monster to become a winner.  :D

Mrs. Cato thought the "ID" was perhaps for "identify," which still is something of a stretch.  The camp, she thought, would "identify" you as a future college soccer player...or not!

I liked my explanation better!  8)


*
It is perhaps not well known that Sigmund Freud never used the Latin words id, ego, and superego in his theory of the mind, but used German, i.e Das Es, Das Ich, and Das Ueber-Ich.

His English translator decided to use Latin for the concepts, which meant losing something rather subtle.

In German, "the child" is das Kind, and therefore the gender, because the word for "the" is "das," is neither male nor female, but neuter.  Since the gender of the word is neuter, the child's pronoun is "Es."

In German, this links the concept of the child's inchoate personality directly to Freud's idea of Das Es, since all Germans as children were referred to as "Es."  z.B. "Das Kind ist so lieb.  Es ist auch niedlich!"  (The child is so dear.  It is also cute!")

(I have read debates where Germans question whether to use natural gender, when referring to the child, i.e. if the child is a boy, you would have "Das Kind...Er..."  (He) or "Das Kind...Sie..." (She).)

Purists wanted Das Kind - Es.









"Meet Miss Ruth Sherwood, from Columbus, Ohio, the Middle of the Universe!"

- Brian Aherne introducing Rosalind Russell in  My Sister Eileen (1942)