# Acceptable English grammar/semantics that you hate **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 23, 2024, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-english-grammar-semantics-that-you-hate/1001984 "2024-05-23T20:21:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-english-grammar-semantics-that-you-hate/1001984/201 "2024-06-18T18:34:47Z")
I feel 100% exactly the opposite. If you say it’s literally raining cats and dogs, I’m not bugged by “literally” at all, because of course that’s an impossibility. But if you say it rained literally every day when you were on vacation, I’ll take you at your word, and think you’re an exaggerator if it only rained on some of the days. As far as “whip cream,” makes me nuts for sure, but I do always think of the rather direct analogy to “iced cream.” If I insist it has to be “whipped cream,” am I now just like Mr. Burns saying “iced cream” a century too late? Totally not ready to deal with “can vegetables” yet, however. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-english-grammar-semantics-that-you-hate/1001984/202 "2024-06-18T20:24:01Z")
Agree 100% with @Briny_Deep 's post above. I think one reason “can vegetables” is more irritating than “ice cream,” aside from the fact that one has been standard English for a long time now and we aren’t used to hearing the other, is that “iced cream” is a bit hard to enunciate clearly; no wonder the D dropped off. But “cand vegetables” is easy to say. I guess “whipped cream” is somewhere in the middle. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-english-grammar-semantics-that-you-hate/1001984/203 "2024-06-18T21:41:16Z")
> [@SlipperyPete](#): > > “That car needs fixed.” “The lawn needs mowed.” TO BE, people. It “needs TO BE”! Or alternatively, it “needs [verb-]ing.” Me too, ‘needs fixed’ or ‘needs washed’ feels wrong, but ‘gets fixed’, ‘goes rotten’, and ‘looks burnt’ are all apparently fine. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-english-grammar-semantics-that-you-hate/1001984/204 "2024-06-18T22:06:36Z")
In English, saying “I do not know,” “I don’t know,” “I dunno,” and “i’uh’oh” are possible, and carry shades of register and connotation that French cannot convey easily. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-english-grammar-semantics-that-you-hate/1001984/205 "2024-06-18T22:35:19Z")
Are you sure? I don’t speak French, but I can think of four different ways to say “I don’t know” in Hebrew, too, each with its own connotations. I can’t imagine how French would be any different. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-english-grammar-semantics-that-you-hate/1001984/206 "2024-06-18T22:50:46Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > I think one reason “can vegetables” is more irritating than “ice cream,” aside from the fact that one has been standard English for a long time now and we aren’t used to hearing the other, is that “iced cream” is a bit hard to enunciate clearly; no wonder the D dropped off. But “cand vegetables” is easy to say. I guess “whipped cream” is somewhere in the middle. All best consumed with a nice, cold glass of iced tea! I’m actually surprised that I have not begun to see “ice tea” in print, since I don’t know anyone who actually pronounces that “d”. Something I’m seeing a lot now, that may or may not be considered correct, is the past participle of the word “pet”, as in giving a dog scritchies. “I pet my dog whenever I come home”. “Yesterday, I pet the dog when I left the house”. It’s PETTED, dammit. But Wiktionary actually lists “pet” as a possibility, though notes that it is nonstandard. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-english-grammar-semantics-that-you-hate/1001984/207 "2024-06-18T22:53:05Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Something I’m seeing a lot now, that may or may not be considered correct, is the past participle of the word “pet”, as in giving a dog scritchies. “I pet my dog whenever I come home”. “Yesterday, I pet the dog when I left the house”. It’s PETTED, dammit. I’ve heard several people use “text” as past tense, too. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-english-grammar-semantics-that-you-hate/1001984/208 "2024-06-18T23:12:40Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Something I’m seeing a lot now, that may or may not be considered correct, is the past participle of the word “pet”, as in giving a dog scritchies. “I pet my dog whenever I come home”. “Yesterday, I pet the dog when I left the house”. It’s PETTED, dammit. This really rubs me the wrong way. It sounds so… WhyTF do people say that? It makes no English sense. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-english-grammar-semantics-that-you-hate/1001984/209 "2024-06-18T23:16:26Z")
je ne sais pas - je sais pas - j’sais pas - chai’pa - j’ignore - aucune idée ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-english-grammar-semantics-that-you-hate/1001984/210 "2024-06-18T23:19:11Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Are you sure? > [@hibernicus](#): > > je ne sais pas - j Did you guys see the post that @Johanna was replying to? ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-english-grammar-semantics-that-you-hate/1001984/211 "2024-06-18T23:22:24Z")
No, I missed it, sorry. Apologies to Johanna, I should have known better than to think she was posting from a position of ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-english-grammar-semantics-that-you-hate/1001984/212 "2024-06-18T23:23:26Z")
What they said. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-english-grammar-semantics-that-you-hate/1001984/213 "2024-06-19T03:15:45Z")
All right then. Not “alright,” now. All right. (And if you’re thinking of the hit song by Free, that is “All Right Now.”) ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-english-grammar-semantics-that-you-hate/1001984/214 "2024-06-19T03:18:48Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Omg, don’t get me started on “whip cream”. You remind me. On one of those cooking competition shows I saw an outrageously flamboyant gay gentleman who performed his Deep South accent by exaggerating it to parodic levels. Those shows like to put colorful “characters” on. But this guy took it too far when he said “whup cream.” The other cooks called him out on that. “There is no way that ‘whup cream’ is part of your native dialect!” ---
**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-english-grammar-semantics-that-you-hate/1001984/215 "2024-06-19T07:27:14Z")
Well, there’s always _j’sais pas_, _chai pas_ and _chai pô_. I see your point, though. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-english-grammar-semantics-that-you-hate/1001984/216 "2024-06-19T13:26:33Z")
> [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > As far as “whip cream,” makes me nuts for sure, but I do always think of the rather direct analogy to “iced cream.” If I insist it has to be “whipped cream,” am I now just like Mr. Burns saying “iced cream” a century too late? > > Totally not ready to deal with “can vegetables” yet, however I find it humorous that in your post complaining about people skipping necessary syllables and conjugation, you leave out these grammatically necessary words: > … “whip cream,” it makes me nuts … and > I’m Totally not ready to deal … I completely agree with your point. If not quite how you said it. The fact you inadvertently scored points for the opposing team (Team Close Enough Good Enough) at the same time is delicious. Bravo Good Sir! 😉 A microcosm of English evolving before our very eyes. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-english-grammar-semantics-that-you-hate/1001984/217 "2024-06-19T13:51:25Z")
I haven’t read through this entire thread so I’m not sure if this has been brought up. We say - The library is closed. When it isn’t closed, should we say - The library is opened or The library is open. I only see “Closed” and “Open” signs. I’ve never seen an “Opened” sign. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-english-grammar-semantics-that-you-hate/1001984/218 "2024-06-19T14:05:42Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > This really rubs me the wrong way. It sounds so… WhyTF do people say that? It makes no English sense. Whoa. That’s one I hadn’t even noticed I use. “He petted the dog before he went out” sounds so absolutely wrong to my ears (but is correct.) ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-english-grammar-semantics-that-you-hate/1001984/219 "2024-06-19T14:11:09Z")
> [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > As far as “whip cream,” makes me nuts for sure, but I do always think of the rather direct analogy to “iced cream.” If I insist it has to be “whipped cream,” am I now just like Mr. Burns saying “iced cream” a century too late? There’s a significant difference between the two product names. Whipped cream is literally cream that’s been thickened by whipping with a beater or blender. “Whip” can be a noun or a verb, but not an adjective. “Whipped” is both the past tense of a verb and also an adjective. “Whipped cream” describes the product; “whip cream” is grammatical nonsense and most likely arises, like a lot of linguistic nonsense, from mishearing and lazy thinking. In “ice cream”, the word “ice” is an adjective, and that adjective has a wide range of meaning, as in “ice hockey”, “ice follies”, “ice sculpture”, “ice cubes”, etc. It simply denotes the fact that the described object has something to do with ice. And in the early days of making ice cream, before refrigeration, crushed ice and salt was used to freeze sweetened cream to make the stuff, so the name is both grammatically correct and a good reflection of the process for making it. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2024, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-english-grammar-semantics-that-you-hate/1001984/220 "2024-06-19T14:21:42Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > I haven’t read through this entire thread so I’m not sure if this has been brought up. > > We say - The library is closed. When it isn’t closed, should we say - The library is opened or The library is open. I only see “Closed” and “Open” signs. I’ve never seen an “Opened” sign. I think part of the problem here is that “the library is close” obviously doesn’t work. But it’s more than that. “Closed” in the above sentence is an adjective, describing the state of the library. “Close” is a verb and would not be grammatical here (it’s also an adjective but with a completely different meaning). “Open”, however, is an adjective just like “closed”. The word forms of “open” and “closed” look different but both are adjectives performing exactly the same function. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-english-grammar-semantics-that-you-hate/1001984.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acceptable-english-grammar-semantics-that-you-hate/1001984.md?page=12)