My nerves are severely frayed and I can sense all of the muscles in my body tense up as I think about what I'm going to write now...
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(1) "Humbleness":
Have you ever heard someone speak a word and do a mental double take? You can make sense of what they said after quickly (or not so quickly) deciphering the mangled portion of what they uttered.
We get what they're trying to say. Sadly, we accept these mispronunciations and move on. After all, our own über-important lives are filled with serious concerns. Why should we bother bruising someone's ego and correct them when we have bigger fish to fry? Am I right?
A word already exists for what you're trying to say here, champ: 'humility'! <For some strange reason, right after I typed it, I read the word as humidity and giggled for a bit.> You cannot take any adjective and add the suffix '-ness' to the end of it and think everything is OK. It's as bad as those folks who think they can convert any English word to Spanish by adding an '-o' at the end. It doesn't work! Understand-o?
If you don't believe me, why not tell me how stupid 'strongness' sounds to you? Perhaps 'teachableness' suits your limited English language needs?
I rest my case.
[Side note: To be fair, I know the word 'humbleness' does actually exist but it isn't commonly used. After all, we do use the word humility more than humbleness. Keep up with modern society, please.]
(2) "At the end of the day, ...":
Ahhhh yes. The hot new saying that everyone seems to be using. It's one of the most overused phrases I have heard in a long time! (It's only rivaled nowadays by 'epic', IMO.) When a person starts every other statement with this phrase, my brain goes to two places (depending on my mood): either the person has nothing of value to share and is trying to sound more interesting or the person genuinely believes the BS that's coming out of their mouths which makes me wonder what the end of their days are like. Well, not really. At the end of the day, they're not that interesting to begin with.
Damn it!!! It's contagious!!
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OKOKOKOKOKOK....
I'll stop venting now. Do you have any other words or sayings that rub you the wrong way? Do share below in the comments section!!
I hope to hear from you.
Until next time, faithful reader......
P.S. On second thought, those people that add an 'o' to the end of English words are worse. Instead of trying to learn the proper word, they decide that Spanish isn't important enough to make an effort for. In fact, they're devaluing the language and, by proxy and perhaps unintentionally, insulting an entire culture.
Showing posts with label pet peeves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pet peeves. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Friday, October 9, 2009
Spanglish (or Another Big Pet Peeve)
Well, this is something I've been wanting to vent about on this blog for quite some time now. I'll do my best to present my case, as I see it, and let you react to it by posting your comments below.
There are many things about the English language that I appreciate especially since it is my native language. I was born in the states, grew up here, and despite a mixed cultural heritage, English will always be my first language. At the same time, I find a lot of beauty in the Spanish language as well. There are many phrases and ways of wording statements that simply cannot be translated literally without sounding like gibberish in English (remember learning about idiomatic phrases?). It is because of my love for English and Spanish that I have begun my hate affair with Spanglish (if we can have "love affairs" we can ALSO have "hate affairs"... hmph).
Spanglish, for those of you who don't know, is a phrase coined by Salvador Tio (a Puerto Rican linguist) describing the "code switching" between English and Spanish. Essentially, a person will switch between using English and Spanish in a conversation, sentence, or any other form of dialogue. The by-product of this is, not just the confusion of both languages, but the creation of a new vocabulary that blurs the line between English and Spanish.
Here are some examples:
- When talking about a parade, Spanglish speakers will use the word 'parada' instead of 'desfile'. A 'parada' is a stop NOT a parade!!
- Hangueando/chileando: meant to indicate the person is hanging out or chillin'. It's fucking stupid!!
- 'Lonche': Seriously?!? It is really so hard to say 'ALMUERZO'?? DAMN!
- Marqueta: Now it's getting ridiculous! Did you forget the word 'mercado' or maybe 'tienda'??
- 'Carpeta': OK now we're just getting lazy, aren't we?? I grew up not actively speaking Spanish and even I know a carpet is an 'alfombra'. If this native-born gringo knows this word, why do other Spanish speakers not know this?
- 'Boila': Is this what we've come to? Why don't you ask someone what the Spanish word for 'boiler' is, PLEASE!!!!!
More incorrect uses of words based on confusion between English and Spanish words:
(1) 'Asistir' looks like the English word 'assist' so it is used in place of 'ayudar'. In Spanish, 'asistir' means to attend.
(2) 'Atender' looks like 'attend' in English so it's used instead of 'asistir'. In Spanish, 'atender' means 'to heed', 'to look after', or 'to pay attention'.
The list goes on and on. As a matter of fact, Wikipedia's Spanglish listing actually has some good examples if you want to see some more misuses of my beautiful languages. Each one is more ridiculous than the last. It's as ridiculous as English speakers adding the letter 'o' to every English word thinking that it instantly makes it a Spanish word!
In NYC, our form of Spanglish has been influenced primarily by Puerto Ricans and Dominicans. In the Southwest US, it's Chicanos that created their variety of Spanglish. For a long time, I thought Spanglish was a result of ignorance and poor education by low-skilled immigrants that came to the U.S. I know better than to assume that now. Nevertheless, Spanglish has been adopted by new generations of Latinos/Hispanics who accept it as a valid "language" even tho it's ruining the true Spanish language, the beautiful language that I adore.
Now I must say that I don't hate the interchanging of languages, per se. As a sociologist, I can accept that phenomena as by-product of the culture clash that exists when an immigrant population enters a new environment and mingles with the native population. It is the changing - bastardizing, is more like it - of the original languages (those of the native born and immigrant groups) that bothers me the most.
*sigh* I feel better now that that's off my chest. Your thoughts?
Until next time, faithful reader......
There are many things about the English language that I appreciate especially since it is my native language. I was born in the states, grew up here, and despite a mixed cultural heritage, English will always be my first language. At the same time, I find a lot of beauty in the Spanish language as well. There are many phrases and ways of wording statements that simply cannot be translated literally without sounding like gibberish in English (remember learning about idiomatic phrases?). It is because of my love for English and Spanish that I have begun my hate affair with Spanglish (if we can have "love affairs" we can ALSO have "hate affairs"... hmph).
Spanglish, for those of you who don't know, is a phrase coined by Salvador Tio (a Puerto Rican linguist) describing the "code switching" between English and Spanish. Essentially, a person will switch between using English and Spanish in a conversation, sentence, or any other form of dialogue. The by-product of this is, not just the confusion of both languages, but the creation of a new vocabulary that blurs the line between English and Spanish.
Here are some examples:
- When talking about a parade, Spanglish speakers will use the word 'parada' instead of 'desfile'. A 'parada' is a stop NOT a parade!!
- Hangueando/chileando: meant to indicate the person is hanging out or chillin'. It's fucking stupid!!
- 'Lonche': Seriously?!? It is really so hard to say 'ALMUERZO'?? DAMN!
- Marqueta: Now it's getting ridiculous! Did you forget the word 'mercado' or maybe 'tienda'??
- 'Carpeta': OK now we're just getting lazy, aren't we?? I grew up not actively speaking Spanish and even I know a carpet is an 'alfombra'. If this native-born gringo knows this word, why do other Spanish speakers not know this?
- 'Boila': Is this what we've come to? Why don't you ask someone what the Spanish word for 'boiler' is, PLEASE!!!!!
More incorrect uses of words based on confusion between English and Spanish words:
(1) 'Asistir' looks like the English word 'assist' so it is used in place of 'ayudar'. In Spanish, 'asistir' means to attend.
(2) 'Atender' looks like 'attend' in English so it's used instead of 'asistir'. In Spanish, 'atender' means 'to heed', 'to look after', or 'to pay attention'.
The list goes on and on. As a matter of fact, Wikipedia's Spanglish listing actually has some good examples if you want to see some more misuses of my beautiful languages. Each one is more ridiculous than the last. It's as ridiculous as English speakers adding the letter 'o' to every English word thinking that it instantly makes it a Spanish word!
In NYC, our form of Spanglish has been influenced primarily by Puerto Ricans and Dominicans. In the Southwest US, it's Chicanos that created their variety of Spanglish. For a long time, I thought Spanglish was a result of ignorance and poor education by low-skilled immigrants that came to the U.S. I know better than to assume that now. Nevertheless, Spanglish has been adopted by new generations of Latinos/Hispanics who accept it as a valid "language" even tho it's ruining the true Spanish language, the beautiful language that I adore.
Now I must say that I don't hate the interchanging of languages, per se. As a sociologist, I can accept that phenomena as by-product of the culture clash that exists when an immigrant population enters a new environment and mingles with the native population. It is the changing - bastardizing, is more like it - of the original languages (those of the native born and immigrant groups) that bothers me the most.
*sigh* I feel better now that that's off my chest. Your thoughts?
Until next time, faithful reader......
Friday, August 21, 2009
Redundancy (or I've Had Enough of This Nonsense)
Welcome to your weekend dose of RaUM goodness. The focus of this entry is something that has been on my mind for some time and, as usual, it is a topic I wanted to share it with you. Any opinions and/or feedback would be appreciated. Maybe you have a better take on it than I do.
One thing that I truly hate about our fast-paced, instant-gratification society is the need to abbreviate everything. Usually I don't mind it and in certain forums I'd prefer it (online chats, tweets, etc). Admittedly, there is some intrinsic value to shortening phrases, words, etc. More importantly, however, is the overwhelming need for abbreviating certain things for the sake of conveying messages quickly to the ever-shortening attention spans of Americans.
I accept that we live in a world of soundbites. What truly bothers me is how people blindly use abbreviations in conjunction with a word that is included in the abbreviation. To illustrate my point, here are the three best examples:
1-BMI index (Body Mass Index index)
2-PIN number (Personal Identification Number number)
3-ATM machine (Automatic Teller Machine machine)
It is the epitome of redundancy and only shows how stupid most people are for not noticing. I'd be willing to be less harsh and say people are simply victims of clever catch phrases and tag-lines. Yet when I point out the fallacy of their use of the redundancy, they simply dismiss me as if I was pestering them - like a mosquito buzzing by their ear - or they roll their eyes and tell me to stop being so analytical.
I think accepting these 'little' (and increasingly common) mistakes in the modern English language is the first step in the de-evolution of American society (have you folks seen the movie Idiocracy?).
[pause]
Let me rethink that a bit... Maybe it's not THAT terrible but it does irk me quite a bit. It's not the fact that these poorly constructed abbreviations exists but, rather, how easily we accept them into our lexicon without thinking twice about what they mean.
I'll leave you with this thought: What else are we missing out on in our lives because we accept things at face value without taking a closer look?
Until next time, faithful reader......
One thing that I truly hate about our fast-paced, instant-gratification society is the need to abbreviate everything. Usually I don't mind it and in certain forums I'd prefer it (online chats, tweets, etc). Admittedly, there is some intrinsic value to shortening phrases, words, etc. More importantly, however, is the overwhelming need for abbreviating certain things for the sake of conveying messages quickly to the ever-shortening attention spans of Americans.
I accept that we live in a world of soundbites. What truly bothers me is how people blindly use abbreviations in conjunction with a word that is included in the abbreviation. To illustrate my point, here are the three best examples:
1-BMI index (Body Mass Index index)
2-PIN number (Personal Identification Number number)
3-ATM machine (Automatic Teller Machine machine)
It is the epitome of redundancy and only shows how stupid most people are for not noticing. I'd be willing to be less harsh and say people are simply victims of clever catch phrases and tag-lines. Yet when I point out the fallacy of their use of the redundancy, they simply dismiss me as if I was pestering them - like a mosquito buzzing by their ear - or they roll their eyes and tell me to stop being so analytical.
I think accepting these 'little' (and increasingly common) mistakes in the modern English language is the first step in the de-evolution of American society (have you folks seen the movie Idiocracy?).
[pause]
Let me rethink that a bit... Maybe it's not THAT terrible but it does irk me quite a bit. It's not the fact that these poorly constructed abbreviations exists but, rather, how easily we accept them into our lexicon without thinking twice about what they mean.
I'll leave you with this thought: What else are we missing out on in our lives because we accept things at face value without taking a closer look?
Until next time, faithful reader......
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