FEATURE: Misused and Abused Phrases

[traycer_]

That Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means: Misused and Abused Phrases Language has a funny way of ingratiating itself on us. Just when you think you have grammar down pat, those sneaky misused and abused phrases pop up to muddy the water

Comments

A point of diction

[diebirchen]

Actually, I think that for purposes of diction, I believe it would be, "Language has a funny way of ingratiating itself WITH[, not ON] us." Why? The only answer is "because." I went to New York BY train. Uh-huh. How about, I went to New York WITH train? Nope. Why not? Both are prepositions. Answer: because. Prepositions are one of the things that seem to trip up non-native speakers too. When I speak in German, I sometimes fail to pick the right one, but hey, not my mother tongue. I could, of course, be wrong on the "with not on" thing, but I think not.
FGoVU

Re: A point of diction

[lady_lirenel]

And that's why it would be easier to have a language like Latin and just shove the verb into the ablative case and not worry about prepositions at all. =D

Re: A point of diction

[diebirchen]

Oh, I so loathed Latin! About all I remember is the first line of Caesar's Gallic Wars. Weeeeell, there are some wonderful love poems by Catullus and Ovid, but I'd rather read 'em in English. I know all the reasons for studying Latin, but it wasn't for me. Even the College of Cardinals no longer expects its members to know the stuff. Give me a living language. My second language is German. The FGoVU stands for Fairy Godmother of Verbal Usage. The tiniest of errors, and I see/hear it. It's both a gift and a curse: the editorial ear that can't be turned off.
FGoVU

Re: A point of diction

[lady_lirenel]

Ah, see, Latin introduced me to the classics to the point that I was a classics major in undergrad. Beautiful language, though extremely hard to translate at times. Of course, then I became enamored with dead languages: Latin in high school and college, Ancient Greek in college, and Old English senior year of undergrad. In fact, I took German in high school because it was as close to Old English as I could get at the time. =D

Though I loved German for itself, too. Eh, I just love languages. Wish I were better at them.

Re: A point of diction

[traycer_]

You could be right. I keep trying it and "...ingratiating itself WITH us" just doesn't sound right no matter how many times I say it. I probably should have written "Language has a funny way of ingratiating itself upon us," which makes much more sense. Oh well. Thank you for pointing it out!! :)