Grammar Nazi Thread: Smooshing Words Together

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by scotpens, Apr 22, 2013.

  1. Thestral

    Thestral Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Right, the Amish is who I was thinking of (and other similar groups like Old Order Mennonites and possibly Hutterites) that still use those words in common language. There's also some ritualistic-yet-everyday use (if that makes sense) among a certain segment of Quakers I know.

    Well, "you" used to be the distinct word for plural "you" alongside "ye." Thee, thou, thy, etc. are all second-person singular , so unless I'm totally mistaken it's more that we lost a singular "you" and simply expanded the upper-class/formal and plural second-person pronoun to the singular and lower-class/informal as well. I've never been entirely clear on the thee/thou/thy rules, but yeah there's particular ways they were used as I understand.

    Also... gahhhhhhh "all y'all".... gahhhhh. "Y'all" is perfectly good! And it's spelled "ain't," not "ai'nt"!!!! :scream: WARRRGARRBBBLLLLE /rant

    (why no, of course I haven't been slipping into using "all y'all" myself and no of course they don't have slightly different meanings sometimes... :shifty:)
     
  2. thestrangequark

    thestrangequark Admiral Admiral

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    ^Interesting info regarding the Amish, Quakers, and Mennonites. I wondered if it might be one (or all) of those to whom you were referring -- thanks for sharing! I have some Quaker friends, but they speak in typical American English -- at least around me.

    As to y'all and all y'all, y'all is for addressing a small group of people and all y'all is for addressing a large group of people!
     
  3. Owain Taggart

    Owain Taggart Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Haha yeah, definitely. I do have it disabled because I type faster without it anyway, and it's less distracting. Just yesterday, someone was asking me how to spell "bottle", and then a few moments go by and I say, "Better that than having the predictive text come up with "bootie". Because you so know it would. :lol:
     
  4. thestrangequark

    thestrangequark Admiral Admiral

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    I would never disable my autocorrect. One of the great joys in life is the hilarious non sequitur of autocorrect. I find the funny far outweighs the annoyance.
     
  5. scotpens

    scotpens Professional Geek Premium Member

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    Quakers don't believe in elevating any person above another, so they used "plain speech," i.e. the pronouns thee (objective case), thou (subjective) and thy (possessive), which were once the familiar forms of address. Although, IIRC, American Quakers used thee for both subject and object, which is technically wrong.
     
  6. Thestral

    Thestral Vice Admiral Admiral

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    ^ Right, an intentional linguistic egalitarianism. It's rather amusing to me though that the language evolved in a way we wanted (not elevating people above one another in pronouns), but in the complete opposite way by universalizing "you." (Though as a note plain speech had other features like avoiding titles/Mr./Ms. and not taking oaths for example)

    You're welcome! Most of the Quakers I know who talk like that (and it's a small minority) speak pretty much like anybody else, yeah. It's mostly among themselves and just occasionally around others. Though it always makes me grin to see a "Thee" on Facebook. (Also amusing: a plain-dress guy rocking out to AC/DC as he drives down the road.)

    I know, but it still sounds goofy. Even on the very rare occasion when I use it. :p
     
  7. TorontoTrekker

    TorontoTrekker Vice Admiral Admiral

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    [​IMG]

    My ex-boyfriend must be the only Southerner I've ever met (born in Tennessee, lives in Atlanta) who doesn't say "y'all". (He barely has an accent.)
     
  8. Third Nacelle

    Third Nacelle Captain Captain

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    I say "y'all" from time to time, especially when speaking with my family, but I don't have an accent otherwise. I've never used "all y'all," but I have used:

    donchall (don't y'all)
    yaller (y'all are)
    djall (did y'all)

    "Ainchall" was at one point in my regular vocabulary as well, but I think I've suppressed it.
     
  9. RJDiogenes

    RJDiogenes Idealistic Cynic and Canon Champion Premium Member

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    Yes. :rommie: "Wreck havoc" is my own personal biggest pet peeve when it comes to the contemporary language massacre. As for "loose" and "lose," I've always wondered if there's some sort of quantum entanglement with "choose" and "chose." Since people use "loose" for "lose" and "chose" for "choose," it seems that the second "o" in "choose" somehow tunneled over and embedded itself in "lose," turning it into "loose."
     
  10. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    The only thing that bugs me about Autocorrect is when it take perfectly legitimate, correctly-spelled words and turns them into other "more common" words.