Aircraft is plural

If I am remembering correctly, one of my old bosses (who was originally from the UK) claimed that the abbreviation for "pounds" should be "lb" and not "lbs" because "lb" was an abbreviation for the Latin "Libre" (or "Libre ponds",or something like that) which was already a plural.

Eaglecash867

 

 

gregbale

Reminded me of the old Andy Griffith routine: "What it was, was...." One least favorite, being heard more widely these days, is 'ex-specially.' But the one that really pops my cork...heard all-too-often from newcasters and even military and scientific types who should know better...is ...NUKE-yuh-LER.

 

 

That reminds me...something that really annoys the hell out of me when watching training videos at work is that one member of our training staff has a particular fondness for saying "excedra" every few sentences, instead of saying "et cetera".  My problem with that is that very few people commonly use that in a sentence, so why does someone who doesn't even know what the word actually is, insist on trying to use it so often?  Drives me nuts!  If you don't know a word, its perfectly fine not to use it. 

I had a high school Biology teacher that used to tell us that the center of a cell is called the "NUKE-yuh-LUS".  

 

I notice a language change that is softening consonents in in the middle of words.  Examples are di-ent, who-ent, coo-ent.  It is Ds and Ts that seem to be softened or even eliminated.

As far as good grammar goes, I think English instruction should bring back diagramming sentences.  It's a useful way to show kids the "why" of speech and writing.  It could help a speaker understand why it's "between you and me", for example, and reduce the likelihood that he'll overcompensate for the times he used the object form in the wrong place, by saying, "between you and I".  

Speaking of "as far as", that's another grammatical construction that is misused.  It's "as far as [something] goes" or "is concerned'.  When I hear people in the media who speak for a living misuse that, it drives me nuts.  I want to be able to reach through the TV or radio, grab the speaker by the lapels, shake him, and say, "Goes!  As far as it goes!"

Again, language does change over time; that's why we don't speak Old English today.  But I think that instruction has gotten very sloppy, and that doesn't help matters.

armornut

    I watched a video awhile ago, the topic was how far back in time could an english speaking person go, the video was narrated by a Brit, and still be understood. Interestingly people today would have almost zero understanding of language spoken in the 1300s, minimal understanding in the late 1500s, and only into the late 1700s would you be able to communicate the basics for survival.

 

One way to test yourself is to listen to, or read, some Shakespeare dramas, methinks.