Live data from Hacker News

English as She Is Spoke (1884) [pdf]

exclassics.com

111–120 of 147 posts

Re: English as She Is Spoke (1884) [pdf]

#111

One of my Iranian colleagues back when I worked in an office had many entertaining phrases, like: "I go make some shoppings" "Time for go" Naturally, the rest of the gang picked them up and used them. I still say them to the consternation of others.

In a similar vein, "do the needful" has become so entrenched in some of my friends' vernacular that it's now used almost completely unironically. Also, "like such as," from the old "Miss Teen USA" viral video, has stuck in my craw to the point that its use is unconscious (though still intended humorously).

When I first started working I thought this was normal business speak. Thankfully my bosses noticed and when I told them it was definitely not spiteful or ironic, they tactfully educated me on the finer points of Indian phraseology.

Re: English as She Is Spoke (1884) [pdf]

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Along similar lines, expect a spelling convergence of "wary" and "weary" in the next 5-10 years due to so many people not knowing the difference between the two, not bothering to check, and perpetuating confusion by using the wrong one in their own writing.

Makes me think of this: My understanding is that chitterlings is the correct spelling and chitlins is the correct pronunciation, but so many people spell it chitlins that it has become an acceptable form of the written word.

Having only ever heard that or seen the transliteration, I honestly did not know “chitterlings” is a word.

Re: English as She Is Spoke (1884) [pdf]

#113

I think this highlights some differences between now and the 19th century. Global communication and travel, to say nothing of media consumption, is much easier today. Many more Portuguese or Brazilian people have easy access to English. But back then, someone who didn't even speak English could publish this phrase book and appear credible.

There are a million YouTube videos of people confidently telling you how to do something but getting it pretty badly wrong.

There are so many that there's now another genre of reacting to this bad advice.

Re: English as She Is Spoke (1884) [pdf]

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Makes me think of this: My understanding is that chitterlings is the correct spelling and chitlins is the correct pronunciation, but so many people spell it chitlins that it has become an acceptable form of the written word.

Having only ever heard that or seen the transliteration, I honestly did not know “chitterlings” is a word.

"Chitterlings" always looks to me like a description of a sound made by a Lovecraftian horror, tbh.

Re: English as She Is Spoke (1884) [pdf]

#115

One of my Iranian colleagues back when I worked in an office had many entertaining phrases, like: "I go make some shoppings" "Time for go" Naturally, the rest of the gang picked them up and used them. I still say them to the consternation of others.

For whatever reason “learnings” is being used instead of lessons.

Re: English as She Is Spoke (1884) [pdf]

#117
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a similar vein, "do the needful" has become so entrenched in some of my friends' vernacular that it's now used almost completely unironically. Also, "like such as," from the old "Miss Teen USA" viral video, has stuck in my craw to the point that its use is unconscious (though still intended humorously).

"do the needful", "please revert back to me"-- phrases like these are not 'invented' by some Indian speakers. These are the stuff Indian savants picked up from the old English books. Then, these savants taught this stuff to fellow Indians and this dynamic gets reproduced everyday. See an entry from Charles Scholl, Geroge Mcaulaly et al's "A Phraseological Dictionary of Commercial Correspondence in the English, German…

It's interesting to see where it came from, but why does it persist? Is consuming English language media and the largest internet sites uncommon for English speaking people in India? I imagine I'd notice pretty quickly that English speakers in TV, movies, and on youtube, don't speak the way they did in the 1800s.

Re: English as She Is Spoke (1884) [pdf]

#118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. I can't speak for Deepl, but Google remains terrible at idioms. Give the phrase "There's mud all over the shop." a try.

>Give the phrase "There's mud all over the shop." a try. // In which dialect of English is that an idiomatic expression? Never heard it before (en-gb native). What's the interpreted meaning??

There's a problem that this is a perfectly fine phrase that depends heavily on context. Are you in the middle of complaining about the state the night shift left your establishment in? Probably not an idiomatic use then.

Re: English as She Is Spoke (1884) [pdf]

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that pretty much how the Americanism "I could care less" originated?

Yes. Along similar lines, expect a spelling convergence of "wary" and "weary" in the next 5-10 years due to so many people not knowing the difference between the two, not bothering to check, and perpetuating confusion by using the wrong one in their own writing.

It's weird how people mix these up, I think it's due to incorrectly assuming it's related to the verb "to wear".

While we're on the subject - more then and less then are becoming very common due to the similarity in how than/then are pronounced in US accented English.

Re: English as She Is Spoke (1884) [pdf]

#120
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"do the needful", "please revert back to me"-- phrases like these are not 'invented' by some Indian speakers. These are the stuff Indian savants picked up from the old English books. Then, these savants taught this stuff to fellow Indians and this dynamic gets reproduced everyday. See an entry from Charles Scholl, Geroge Mcaulaly et al's "A Phraseological Dictionary of Commercial Correspondence in the English, German…

It's interesting to see where it came from, but why does it persist? Is consuming English language media and the largest internet sites uncommon for English speaking people in India? I imagine I'd notice pretty quickly that English speakers in TV, movies, and on youtube, don't speak the way they did in the 1800s.

Most of the IT workers in India pick up English from colleagues, bosses, etc, not so much from the English media.
Post reply on HN