Philosophy Now Forum

All of us who are not fortunate enough to live in the great US of A can at least profit from their wonderful gems of language that steadily seep into and enrich our own. One of my favourites is: "thank you for sharing". I am thinking now of the woman who, on being confronted by a flasher, was unable to stop herself from saying "thank you for sharing your genitals with me", before running off and calling the police.
Thank you, America.

bobevenson wrote:Unfortunately, you haven't learned how to spell "favorite."

Sorry about that, bob. Have a nice day.

'I could care less'. Functionable. Loose instead of lose. Mischeeveeiss. 'Loan' used as a verb. 'Artic' instead of 'Arctic' ditto 'Antartica'. Irrrakk! Anyways.
Toward. So long as (as long as). 'Axe' instead of 'ask' (I axed my boyfriend first and then loaned his car). 'I'll run that by you and discernify if we are in the same ball park'. Translation: I'll explain it first then see if we agree. 'Nucular' instead of 'nuclear'. 'Where are you at?' Why the 'at'??? What's wrong with 'where are you?'
'Get off OF my property!' instead of 'Get off my property!' Hmm. If he had just said it correctly without the pointless 'of' he would have had time to duck inside before being shot. Headline: 'Man Killed By Bad Grammar'. 'I have just gotten a raise'. 'I have just got a rise'. 'Mam'. 'Have a nice day' (more useful as a sneaky insult by insolent shop assistants than anything else). 'Inappropriate' use of the word 'inappropriate'. Ditto 'issues'. 'Math' instead of 'MathS'.
etc.etc.etc.etc.etc.........What is wrong with those people???

realize
realized
realizing
realism

Distinguishing between hissing and buzzing esses was a good idea, but Webster added further inconsistencies:

wize
ize
flize
size
prize

Greta wrote:realize
realized
realizing
realism

Distinguishing between hissing and buzzing esses was a good idea, but Webster added further inconsistencies:

wize
ize
flize
size
prize

And 'exercise'. I'm pretty sure yanks don't spell it with a zed. Their need to 'stupid-down' the language has actually made it more complicated.

vegetariantaxidermy wrote:

Greta wrote:realize
realized
realizing
realism

Distinguishing between hissing and buzzing esses was a good idea, but Webster added further inconsistencies:

wize
ize
flize
size
prize

And 'exercise'. I'm pretty sure yanks don't spell it with a zed. Their need to 'stupid-down' the language has actually made it more complicated.

While it's a bit galling to see Webster's "American" rather than "English" becoming the world's main lingua franca, I'm grateful that it's not Mandarin. Otherwise we'd need Wongster to create a simplified version!

In spite of America's current near dismal state of education or culture, they have have still given the world some of its greatest literature.

Dubious wrote:In spite of America's current near dismal state of education or culture, they have have still given the world some of its greatest literature.

Yes they have. But they weren't always idiots. That's the mystery. I wonder if it's all the junk food. You won't find terrible grammar in Steinbeck or Twain, unless a character is speaking in a particular dialect or in character, which isn't the same thing at all.

Dubious wrote:In spite of America's current near dismal state of education or culture, they have have still given the world some of its greatest literature.

Yes, all dominant nations of their time have left behind great things - from Greek political systems to Roman aqueducts to English legal systems to American moon landings. Today is the concern - Michio Kaku on American education -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK0Y9j_CGgM

Greta wrote:

vegetariantaxidermy wrote:

Greta wrote:realize
realized
realizing
realism

Distinguishing between hissing and buzzing esses was a good idea, but Webster added further inconsistencies:

wize
ize
flize
size
prize

And 'exercise'. I'm pretty sure yanks don't spell it with a zed. Their need to 'stupid-down' the language has actually made it more complicated.

While it's a bit galling to see Webster's "American" rather than "English" becoming the world's main lingua franca, I'm grateful that it's not Mandarin. Otherwise we'd need Wongster to create a simplified version!

Love it. You'll be charged with hate-speech for that.

Greta wrote:

Dubious wrote:In spite of America's current near dismal state of education or culture, they have have still given the world some of its greatest literature.

Yes, all dominant nations of their time have left behind great things - from Greek political systems to Roman aqueducts to English legal systems to American moon landings. Today is the concern - Michio Kaku on American education -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK0Y9j_CGgM

"Today" is indeed a concern! But nothing is as it was anywhere. Germany, for example, was not too long ago, a cultural and scientific superpower but now they're hardly different from any other nation when it comes down to genius and creativity.

Today is not only a concern for the US. There's now a leveling-off in all nations.

Dubious wrote:

Greta wrote:

Dubious wrote:In spite of America's current near dismal state of education or culture, they have have still given the world some of its greatest literature.

Yes, all dominant nations of their time have left behind great things - from Greek political systems to Roman aqueducts to English legal systems to American moon landings. Today is the concern - Michio Kaku on American education -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK0Y9j_CGgM

"Today" is indeed a concern! But nothing is as it was anywhere. Germany, for example, was not too long ago, a cultural and scientific superpower but now they're hardly different from any other nation when it comes down to genius and creativity.

Today is not only a concern for the US. There's now a leveling-off in all nations.

I agree, but the effect seems most pronounced in the US. The human story seems to be one of growing collective power and concomitant shrinking of individual capacities.

As far as I can tell, human intelligence is increasingly kept as data storage. Our individual abilities are now not so much in generation of things but their retrieval. So we are increasingly less like PCs and more like dumb terminals. As activities become easier to do, our individual capacities shrink through disuse. We develop ever more specialised and expert exemplars in each field while we increasingly become like cells - incapable of surviving alone, outside of the "body" of humanity.

superfluous u's aside, favorite 'mericanisms have to include

110110010101001010111010101...

everybody's using it...

-Imp

Impenitent wrote:superfluous u's aside, favorite 'mericanisms have to include

110110010101001010111010101...

everybody's using it...

-Imp

Not superfluous and they didn't 'invent' the computer. It has evolved. You could even say it evolved from when humans first learnt to count.