Comments on: The contrarian grammarian – a question about Slovak culture (or rather human nature) http://the-lundgaards.com/?p=1351 anything essential is invisible to the eyes Sat, 17 Jul 2010 00:54:23 -0600 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Sarah Kuhlman http://the-lundgaards.com/?p=1351&cpage=1#comment-3931 Sarah Kuhlman Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:51:03 +0000 http://the-lundgaards.com/?p=1351#comment-3931 Feel your pain, Kris. When Vojta was here I routinely gave him 7 different ways to say the same thing. And periodically added, "The correct way to say it is X, but around here everybody says Y." And then Steve and I have an ongoing debate about the correct way to pronounce sherbet. Feel your pain, Kris. When Vojta was here I routinely gave him 7 different ways to say the same thing. And periodically added, “The correct way to say it is X, but around here everybody says Y.”

And then Steve and I have an ongoing debate about the correct way to pronounce sherbet.

]]> By: Graeme http://the-lundgaards.com/?p=1351&cpage=1#comment-3930 Graeme Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:55:39 +0000 http://the-lundgaards.com/?p=1351#comment-3930 Yes.. Here's an example my smart-arsed lawyer friend corrected my other smart-arsed history student friend on.. "I am waiting on a train for Belfast" "Does that mean that in fact you are waiting for Belfast to show up on your train, or that you are indeed waiting FOR a train TO Belfast" I then pointed out that he was being too conservative and not embracing the wonderful fluidity of language :) I guess there would only be one way to say that sentence in Slovak, but again I could be wrong.. Yes.. Here’s an example my smart-arsed lawyer friend corrected my other smart-arsed history student friend on..

“I am waiting on a train for Belfast”

“Does that mean that in fact you are waiting for Belfast to show up on your train, or that you are indeed waiting FOR a train TO Belfast”

I then pointed out that he was being too conservative and not embracing the wonderful fluidity of language :)

I guess there would only be one way to say that sentence in Slovak, but again I could be wrong..

]]> By: Somaria http://the-lundgaards.com/?p=1351&cpage=1#comment-3929 Somaria Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:17:04 +0000 http://the-lundgaards.com/?p=1351#comment-3929 As a Trini who has interacted with a few foreigners interested in talking in Trini dialect here are some of my motivations for correcting people: - I genuinely want to help this person sound like a local, so I will tell him how to say everything the exact way I say it (just because it sounds better to me even though other Trinis may say it the way they said it originally) - I don't want this outsider to think that he can be as fluent as I am in MY language so I will pretend that there is some nuance that he is just not grasping - Good God, what on earth is he trying to say? - I want to hear him say a particular word with a funny accent (Yes, sometimes it's just plain "bad mind" that motivates a correction.) As a Trini who has interacted with a few foreigners interested in talking in Trini dialect here are some of my motivations for correcting people:

- I genuinely want to help this person sound like a local, so I will tell him how to say everything the exact way I say it (just because it sounds better to me even though other Trinis may say it the way they said it originally)

- I don’t want this outsider to think that he can be as fluent as I am in MY language so I will pretend that there is some nuance that he is just not grasping

- Good God, what on earth is he trying to say?

- I want to hear him say a particular word with a funny accent

(Yes, sometimes it’s just plain “bad mind” that motivates a correction.)

]]> By: Janna http://the-lundgaards.com/?p=1351&cpage=1#comment-3927 Janna Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:34:16 +0000 http://the-lundgaards.com/?p=1351#comment-3927 Maybe it's regional... That's my favorite thing to say, and now Gina and Miriam will beat me up. But seriously, in English a lot of prepositions ARE regional. Maybe it’s regional…

That’s my favorite thing to say, and now Gina and Miriam will beat me up.

But seriously, in English a lot of prepositions ARE regional.

]]> By: Joshua Butcher http://the-lundgaards.com/?p=1351&cpage=1#comment-3926 Joshua Butcher Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:55:39 +0000 http://the-lundgaards.com/?p=1351#comment-3926 I think most of us have preferences for how we think things are best expressed, whatever language it is that we speak. After all, prescriptivists have been around at least since ancient Greece. It would be daunting to have to be constantly corrected, but as you said at one point, you are getting the benefit of learning all the varieties of expression that are available. Who knows, perhaps you will become the Shakespeare of the Slovak language! I think most of us have preferences for how we think things are best expressed, whatever language it is that we speak. After all, prescriptivists have been around at least since ancient Greece.

It would be daunting to have to be constantly corrected, but as you said at one point, you are getting the benefit of learning all the varieties of expression that are available. Who knows, perhaps you will become the Shakespeare of the Slovak language!

]]> By: Graeme http://the-lundgaards.com/?p=1351&cpage=1#comment-3925 Graeme Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:37:26 +0000 http://the-lundgaards.com/?p=1351#comment-3925 Maybe they weren't correcting you.. Just confirming the dimensions.. Maybe they weren’t correcting you.. Just confirming the dimensions..

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