Mate! Maaaaate! I leev in ‘Straya, where everythink that can be shortened into slang, is. Speshly, like, words that have heaps o’ lettuhs, so, like, they get shortened to a few lettuhs wiv an ‘O’ on the end?
So they go they go they go like ‘Ambo’ for ambulance driver? Or they go, like, ‘arvo’ for, like, afternoon? It’s sooooo Ozzie, soooooo 'Strayan. Speshly the question marks at the end, eh.
G’arn. Axe me anytheenk.
Maaa-aa-aaate!
Hmmmm.
Confused Dutch boy checking in.
“I am going on vacation” seems like a correct sentence to me.
“I and my family are going on vacation” just makes the subject plural, and adapts the conjugation of the verb accordingly (God I hope I spelled all of that right. Ly. :)).
What’s the catch? What did I miss? It seems OK to me.
Well, properly it should be “My family and I are going on vacation” since you are always supposed to put yourself last in lists.
But I don’t know if that’s what the poster is griping about.
Well, yeah, but that’s manners, not grammar. 
Actually, I believe it is a grammer rule. At least, I learned it in English class, and you’d get points off if you did it wrong.
Did you get points off for misspelling “grammar” too? 
what really chaps my ass, is that(and TN can back me on this one) everyone in Tennessee pronounces Lafayette as luhfayeet. Even the newscasters in Nashville do it. I just keep thinking that this was a man’s name, and I’m sure he wouldn’t care much for an entire region mispronouncing it.
No. That’s spelling, a whole difint class.
Cisco:
“Where are you at?” is prepositional(sp?) phrase. Correct usage would be: “Where are You?”
D*mn. The spelling comment was dorected to Coldfire.
Yes, that’s what I was griping about. You always put yourself last. Good manners and good grammar.
As for "Where are you at?", isn’t it a dangling participle?
Where’s an English major when you need one?
Another example that drives me crazy:
“My coworkers and myself went out to lunch.”
“My husband and myself bought a new house.”
Arrgghh! It’s “ME”!!!
I think people think “myself” is somehow “more proper,” but it ain’t!
I really think that’s a regional thing, though. There are some words that are just pronounced differently- aunt said as “ant,” in some places, or the fact that most people I know (as well as me, for that matter) can’t say drawer as a two syllable word- though we don’t say it the same as the verb d-r-a-w either…I try to avoid borrower if possible, too, that one’s even harder. Until recently I didn’t realize that “krick” wasn’t a seperate word for a small body of water- how does anyone get that out of creek? I don’t understand how people get “banger” out of Bangore either, but it doesn’t hurt me any to hear it.
In Texas Aunt is pronounced “ain’t”, as in this is my Ain’t Martha.
Not by everyone, we here say it like “ant”, and as a sidenote I have an aunt Martha. In school, a girl who had moved down from Minnesota once mentioned her “ont” We just loved that one.
My dad is a treasure trove of these things. He’s a cabinet maker and when he picks up plywood and lumber he’s gettin’ maturls (materials).
Q: Is Ed comin’ over later?
A: Postaby (Supposed to be)
If you’re preparing to engage in an activity…
“I’m fixin’ to go to the store.”
“I saw Jimmy downtown wallago.” (a while ago)
If you are unable to do something, then you “cain’t”
One that bugs me to no end is “My car needs washed.” I hate that, whatever the hell it is.
Another one my parents use frequently is “stinging scorpion” What other kind is there? A laughing scorpion? You don’t need to narrow it down from scorpion!
Thanks, all, for getting the thread back on track.
Allow me to explain my stance on grammar and pronunciation:
Piece,
TN*hippie
I swear I’m fixin’ to change my Username to Laughing Scorpion.
TN*hippie
Re: Lafayette
IMHO, the correct pronunciation of a place name is how most of the residents say it.
I don’t recommend going to Lafayette, TN and talking like a Frenchie. Easy reminder: “Lafayette” rhymes with “Ah say it!”
Ooooh, another one!
What’s that vegetable most of us will be eating mashed next week?
A “Buh-Tato” of course!
Grrr…it’s a PO-tato. P! Okay?
Re: the Lafayette issue.
Sounds like the “Lancaster” issue around here.
Is it Lank-uh-ster? Or Lang-caster?
Kinsey - I really should have qualified that one.
I say “ant”, but my aunt Martha(deep central texas accent) and my aunt Robbie both said “aint”
Well, remember that the 39th President also happened to have studied nuclear physics at Eureka College in New York, but always had an annoying habit of pronouncing “nuclear” as “nukier.” Of course, around here, “Jordan” is pronounced “Jerdan.”
My coworker is a treasure trove of such stuff–“prolithic” for prolific being one of the worst. Then there’s her “ceular” phone, and her constant misuse of “holistic” and “parameter.”
One of my aunts (pronounced aints) was fond of plaskit, rifle (for raffle), menses (plural of men), testes (plural of test), worsh (wash), reench (rinse), deeshes (plural of dish), crishtchul (crystal), rat cheer (right here), hit (it) on and on. I used to do a riff for my mom that went: “Waell, I’m fixin’ to worsh and reench my plastic deeshes and my crishtchul afor I go to the rifle; and then all them menses has got to go take their testes.” Our guilty pleasure!
Of course, I use “fixin’ to,” and “over yonder” and have been known to say “hose pipe” and “tump.”
45ACP
Sorry Union College. (Which my aforesaid aunt would prounounce as “Newnion.”)