Things that annoy you beyond reason...(Vol. 6)
Discussion
DeltonaS said:
First of all, languages aren't invented, they develop over time.
Seconldy, look at what you wrote previously: it's wasn't "invented" by Anglo Saxons who spoke German, and Normans who spoke French. Those Anglo Saxons didn't speak German but a mixture of dialects
People from what is now northwest Germany, west Denmark and the Netherlands settled in the British Isles from the mid-5th century and came to culturally dominate the bulk of southern Great Britain until the 7th century. The Anglo-Saxon language, now called Old English, originated as a group of Anglo-Frisian dialects which were spoken, at least by the settlers.
Quite,Seconldy, look at what you wrote previously: it's wasn't "invented" by Anglo Saxons who spoke German, and Normans who spoke French. Those Anglo Saxons didn't speak German but a mixture of dialects
People from what is now northwest Germany, west Denmark and the Netherlands settled in the British Isles from the mid-5th century and came to culturally dominate the bulk of southern Great Britain until the 7th century. The Anglo-Saxon language, now called Old English, originated as a group of Anglo-Frisian dialects which were spoken, at least by the settlers.
And gendered nouns don't make a language more difficult IMO, I think this is something that scares english speakers but we don't give a second thought to the complex grammatical structures, the constant shifting of rules and so on in english.
gregs656 said:
Quite,
And gendered nouns don't make a language more difficult IMO, I think this is something that scares english speakers but we don't give a second thought to the complex grammatical structures, the constant shifting of rules and so on in english.
Plus locals don't really care if you get the gender wrong in my experience. They might politely correct you but it is no barrier to communication.And gendered nouns don't make a language more difficult IMO, I think this is something that scares english speakers but we don't give a second thought to the complex grammatical structures, the constant shifting of rules and so on in english.
vaud said:
Plus locals don't really care if you get the gender wrong in my experience. They might politely correct you but it is no barrier to communication.
Quite. I have a Dutch friend whose English is frankly amazing - to the point that she gets idioms, puns, and wordplay - and I never have trouble understanding her. Yet she insists I correct her when she gets things wrong. The way she rearranges words and orderings is actually very cute and I can barely bring myself to correct her, but I do so because she asks me to. Otherwise I would not.
LordGrover said:
...unless French, in which case they'll behave like you spoke Cantonese and pretend they have no idea what you said.
LordGrover said:
...unless French, in which case they'll behave like you spoke Cantonese and pretend they have no idea what you said.
Not in my experience 
I normally self-deprecate and add "Je parle français comme une vache espagnole..." which often elicits a laugh.
Accent/pronunciation are more important than getting the gender right in French.
vaud said:
Not in my experience
I normally self-deprecate and add "Je parle français comme une vache espagnole..." which often elicits a laugh.
Accent/pronunciation are more important than getting the gender right in French.
Joking aside, all French-speaking colleagues that I have had over here have been very tolerant of my clumsy attempts at half-forgotten French. In France, perhaps less so. I normally self-deprecate and add "Je parle français comme une vache espagnole..." which often elicits a laugh.
Accent/pronunciation are more important than getting the gender right in French.
LordGrover said:
...unless French, in which case they'll behave like you spoke Cantonese and pretend they have no idea what you said.
I was at a wedding long ago, near La Flèche, Sarthe, and a Frenchwoman that I knew asked me how my eldest son was doing.Knowing that a Frenchwoman was “une Française”, and a Polish woman, “une Polonaise”, as my son had married a German girl, I said “Il a épousé une allemandoise”, which I thought was, “He married a German girl.”
She dissolved into giggles, and said, “Non Frank, une fille allemande, pas allemandoise!”
Clockwork Cupcake said:
Quite. I have a Dutch friend whose English is frankly amazing - to the point that she gets idioms, puns, and wordplay - and I never have trouble understanding her. Yet she insists I correct her when she gets things wrong.
The way she rearranges words and orderings is actually very cute and I can barely bring myself to correct her, but I do so because she asks me to. Otherwise I would not.
My Dutch teacher quite often says don't worry if you get this bit wrong as the Dutch do too, but then asks us how to say stuff correctly in English as it's not her best language, sometimes after a quick discussion about it in French with the French guy in the class.The way she rearranges words and orderings is actually very cute and I can barely bring myself to correct her, but I do so because she asks me to. Otherwise I would not.
Edited by RizzoTheRat on Wednesday 11th March 06:37
gareth_r said:
The first time I walked through Reading, distracted by finding my way to a new job, I caught a banner strung across the facade of the old Town Hall in my peripheral vision and thought "A museum devoted to reading, that's odd."... looks at street map... 
"Oh, hang on.".
By the way, the museum of reading exhibits an excellent copy, embroidered in 1885, of the Bayeux Tapestry. /tourist information
It's not an exact copy, though. The stuffy Victorian chaps at the V&A museum supplied photographs to the ladies what embroidered it, but they only went and edited those hand-coloured photos to remove images of male genitalia which appear on the original tapestry in the lower margins... "Oh, hang on.".By the way, the museum of reading exhibits an excellent copy, embroidered in 1885, of the Bayeux Tapestry. /tourist information
Reading Museum said:
Reading’s copy was the idea of Elizabeth Wardle, an accomplished embroideress and wife of Staffordshire silk-dyer Thomas Wardle. In 1885 they organised the members of the Leek Embroidery Society to create the full sized and accurate replica so that ‘England should have a copy of its own’. It took them a year and it was then exhibited across Britain.
They went to great efforts to make it as accurate as possible - but there are a few uniquely Victorian additions. In the borders there are several naked men but in the Reading copy their modesty has been protected with pants! The women of Leek were not responsible for these prudish additions as is often repeated - they had simply copied them from a set of photographs that had been ‘cleaned-up’ by the male staff at the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A).
He should be a bThey went to great efforts to make it as accurate as possible - but there are a few uniquely Victorian additions. In the borders there are several naked men but in the Reading copy their modesty has been protected with pants! The women of Leek were not responsible for these prudish additions as is often repeated - they had simply copied them from a set of photographs that had been ‘cleaned-up’ by the male staff at the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A).
k-naked Norman (or maybe Saxon) man...
...but he's been shown wearing Victorian embroidered pants!
The temperature in hotels!
I've had to put up with the aircon droning away all night and it's still 3 degrees hotter than I have it set to. I could understand understand if it was 40 degrees out, but it's Belgium in March for fks sake! What's wrong with fitting windows that open?
In other annoyances, my spellchecker changing fks to ducks!
I've had to put up with the aircon droning away all night and it's still 3 degrees hotter than I have it set to. I could understand understand if it was 40 degrees out, but it's Belgium in March for f
ks sake! What's wrong with fitting windows that open? In other annoyances, my spellchecker changing f
ks to ducks! Made the mistake of trying to list a car for sale via the Facebook marketplace (because might as well right?)
It won't let me because "This is far above the price range of similar vehicles. Lower the price to attract buyers"
Similar fking vehicles? Really? You can't list it as a Mazda 6 MPS (which is a model by itself not a trim level) and the million of common or garden Mazda 6's for sale and their value matters not one bit. Not to mention that I can see one listed for exactly the same fking price...except it's under car parts rather than cars. Probably for the same reason.
fk it and fk you Facebook.
It won't let me because "This is far above the price range of similar vehicles. Lower the price to attract buyers"
Similar f
king vehicles? Really? You can't list it as a Mazda 6 MPS (which is a model by itself not a trim level) and the million of common or garden Mazda 6's for sale and their value matters not one bit. Not to mention that I can see one listed for exactly the same fking price...except it's under car parts rather than cars. Probably for the same reason.f
k it and fk you Facebook. Fastdruid said:
Made the mistake of trying to list a car for sale via the Facebook marketplace (because might as well right?)
It won't let me because "This is far above the price range of similar vehicles. Lower the price to attract buyers"
Similar fking vehicles? Really? You can't list it as a Mazda 6 MPS (which is a model by itself not a trim level) and the million of common or garden Mazda 6's for sale and their value matters not one bit. Not to mention that I can see one listed for exactly the same fking price...except it's under car parts rather than cars. Probably for the same reason.
fk it and fk you Facebook.
Try a dedicated Mazda 6 group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1622957101285453/It won't let me because "This is far above the price range of similar vehicles. Lower the price to attract buyers"
Similar f
king vehicles? Really? You can't list it as a Mazda 6 MPS (which is a model by itself not a trim level) and the million of common or garden Mazda 6's for sale and their value matters not one bit. Not to mention that I can see one listed for exactly the same fking price...except it's under car parts rather than cars. Probably for the same reason.f
k it and fk you Facebook. DocJock said:
Try a dedicated Mazda 6 group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1622957101285453/
No one joins a Mazda 6 group to sell (or buy) an MPS. It's like joining the BMW 3 series owners group to sell (or buy) an M3.
Fastdruid said:
DocJock said:
Try a dedicated Mazda 6 group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1622957101285453/
No one joins a Mazda 6 group to sell (or buy) an MPS. It's like joining the BMW 3 series owners group to sell (or buy) an M3.
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