# Share Some Mangled Language **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 20, 2015, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-mangled-language/710369 "2015-01-20T09:28:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-mangled-language/710369/61 "2015-01-23T01:43:30Z")
My fave is a newspaper article that said “… be weary of scam operators who…” I think they were going for a mashup of _wary_ and _leery_. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-mangled-language/710369/62 "2015-01-23T02:22:37Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Not sure whether it was a mangling of language or of cuisine. > > In an Italian-themed restaurant, so-called bruschetta which was hiding under a mountain of chopped-up tomato. You couldn’t see any bread until you’d laddled a bunch of tomato off it. I wanted toast with oil and garlic with maybe some chopped tomato, I got a ton of tomato with an itty bit of bread (garlic, what is this thing?). It was like the bastard child of bruschetta, pa amb tomàquet and an explosion in a tomato field. And the tomato was just chopped up, there was nothing to compose it with 😕 > The book I’m currently reading includes a reference to a “principle investigator” in the acknowledgements. Maybe the physicist in question is in the Ethics Committee, but I doubt it. Maybe it’s just me. But I have absolutely no idea how this relates to the OP. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Marlonius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Marlonius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlonius)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-mangled-language/710369/63 "2015-01-23T03:22:22Z")
I’ve noticed over the past 10 years or so a tendency among some of my local contemporaries to say things to the effect of “Are you coming with?” meaning “Are you coming with me?” and “Does this need washed?”, meaning “Does this need to be washed?”. I don’t know why they’re dropping words, but I find it irritating. By the way Mr. Mustard, it’s “whose”, not “who’s”. “Who’s” means “who is”. I figure you’ll care to get that correct in the future given the theme of this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-mangled-language/710369/64 "2015-01-23T03:57:17Z")
Hmmm “Are you coming with” has been discussed here before as a regionalism based upon, I can’t recall, German or Polish syntax? Maybe someone else can recall this. As for “Does this need washed?” That sounds perfectly acceptable to me. I’m no grammarian but what is lacking in that sentence? The additional “to be” adds nothing. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-mangled-language/710369/65 "2015-01-23T04:13:21Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > As for “Does this need washed?” That sounds perfectly acceptable to me. I’m no grammarian but what is lacking in that sentence? The additional “to be” adds nothing. Another regionalism. Here (Chicago), we’d say, “Does this need to be washed?” or “Does this need washing?” I’m starting to hear “Does this need washed?” come out of my mouth, but I think it’s because I’m spending too much time in central/southern Indiana, and it’s contagious. [http://microsyntax.sites.yale.edu/needs-washed](http://microsyntax.sites.yale.edu/needs-washed) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-mangled-language/710369/66 "2015-01-23T04:21:43Z")
> [@VunderBob](#): > > The one we both make fun of was this pig-ignorant bling encrusted woman on a Judge Judy episode that insisted her little ratdog (subject of the case) was a she-WA-wa. OK, I keep coming back to this one, cos I don’t get it. M-w gives the pronunciation of chihuahua as \chə-ˈwä-(ˌ)wä, shə-, -wə, meaning the first consonant can be either “ch as in chocolate” or “sh as in she” and the vowel also has a couple variants. The stress is in the middle syllable. So… what is wrong with her pronunciation? As far as I can tell, it matches one of the given variants. Frankly, I’m happy any time a “ch as in chocolate” aka /ʧ/ doesn’t get mangled into /k/… ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-mangled-language/710369/67 "2015-01-23T04:33:25Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Another regionalism. Here (Chicago), we’d say, “Does this need to be washed?” or “Does this need washing?” I’m starting to hear “Does this need washed?” come out of my mouth, but I think it’s because I’m spending too much time in central/southern Indiana, and it’s contagious. > [Needs washed | Yale Grammatical Diversity Project: English in North America](http://microsyntax.sites.yale.edu/needs-washed) From your link, “This construction is also attested in Scots English, which might be its historical source.” That no doubt is why it sounds normal to me (being born in Scotland) and probably sounds normal to most Canadians due to the British influence on our English grammar and spelling. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-mangled-language/710369/68 "2015-01-23T05:32:25Z")
One I could never understand _how_ one could screw up “button”, but I knew someone who did. “Bunton”. RIP Joyce. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-mangled-language/710369/69 "2015-01-23T05:34:38Z")
How about the ever-popular “warsh” for “That needs warshed”. Yes, I spent too many young year is south central IN. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-mangled-language/710369/70 "2015-01-23T13:46:36Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Hmmm “Are you coming with” has been discussed here before as a regionalism based upon, I can’t recall, German or Polish syntax? Maybe someone else can recall this. > > As for “Does this need washed?” That sounds perfectly acceptable to me. I’m no grammarian but what is lacking in that sentence? The additional “to be” adds nothing. The proper construction does not include the “to be”, it is “Does this need washing?”. “Washing” is an act, “washed” is a condition. ---
**Author:** ![trapezoidal\_jellyfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6f9a4e/32.png) [@trapezoidal\_jellyfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trapezoidal_jellyfish)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-mangled-language/710369/71 "2015-01-23T13:56:33Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > I saw an ad recently for a ‘leaf letter’. Repeated several times in the advert. Help me out here. What is this one supposed to be? ---
**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:** [January 23, 2015, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-mangled-language/710369/72 "2015-01-23T15:22:53Z")
> [@trapezoidal\_jellyfish](#): > > > [@Filbert](#): > > > > I saw an ad recently for a ‘leaf letter’. Repeated several times in the advert. … > > Help me out here. What is this one supposed to be? Leafletter. or leaflettier. IOW, somebody who stands in a crowd and passes out leaflets. Or sticks them under windshield wipers. Etc. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2015, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-mangled-language/710369/73 "2015-01-23T15:32:33Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > A friend of mine told of being asked, “Can you tell us how to get to the Champ de Sleazy?” … I used to live in trendy urban neighborhood with a very nice French brasserie named “Chez Léon”. AFAIK that’s properly pronounced something like “Shay lay AUHN”. An irreverent friend always deliberately mispronounced it like “CHEEZY Lee on’s”. Made me think of a dusty musty overstuffed nick-nack shop presided over by an 80-year old Jewish guy in dirty ill-fitting brown slacks. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-mangled-language/710369/74 "2015-01-23T16:40:37Z")
> [@Helena](#): > > “I received the merchant dice I ordered.” Years ago I ordered some hard-to-find polyhedral dice from an online company. They were terrible at fulfilling orders, and it was three months before I received the merchant dice I ordered. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-mangled-language/710369/75 "2015-01-25T05:37:00Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I’m getting a little tired of old guys talking about their ‘prostrate’ problems. In his book _Class_, Paul Fussell listed a number of fine example, of which the most memorable was someone describing a rainbow as having “all the colors of the rectum”. I recently downloaded a [Gene Vincent](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Vincent) album, on which one of the songs is the classic “Woman Love”. According to the lyric, the singing first-person narrator goes to the doctor because he’s all messed up and walking in circles; the doc takes one look and exclaims, > [@](#): > > Good god above > You need a vaccination _over_ woman love. (Emphasis mine). I’d be interested to know if this is a Virginia regionalism, or if the song was simply written that way so the lyric would fit the melody better. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-mangled-language/710369/76 "2015-01-25T08:14:05Z")
And when the hell did “overnight” become a verb? (“We’ll overnight the package to you.”) ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-mangled-language/710369/77 "2015-01-25T13:26:03Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > …In his book _Class_, Paul Fussell listed a number of fine example, of which the most memorable was someone describing a rainbow as having “all the colors of the rectum” It’s still morning, but I am confident that you’ve already given me my biggest laugh of the day. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-mangled-language/710369/78 "2015-01-25T14:04:08Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Hmmm “Are you coming with” has been discussed here before as a regionalism based upon, I can’t recall, German or Polish syntax? Maybe someone else can recall this. > > As for “Does this need washed?” That sounds perfectly acceptable to me. I’m no grammarian but what is lacking in that sentence? The additional “to be” adds nothing. The first one is extremely common in Chicago. I remember saying it to someone about twenty-five years ago when I lived in Indiana, and they started laughing and said it reminded them of being back in Chicago. The second I hear all the time in southern Illinois, and I was horrified to hear it come out of my mouth once. It grates on me, much as my Chicago speech (I’m sure) grates on the people down there. ---
**Author:** ![ASanders](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asanders/32/3367_2.png) [@ASanders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASanders)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-mangled-language/710369/79 "2015-01-25T16:35:03Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > The proper construction does not include the “to be”, it is “Does this need washing?”. “Washing” is an act, “washed” is a condition. Someone I know has recently been dropping the “to be” in many exchanges, and it always makes me cringe! This “needs fixed” or that “need changed” – maybe she’s been doing it all along but I just started noticing it in the last few months. ARGH. ---
**Author:** ![H2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@H2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/H2.0)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-mangled-language/710369/80 "2015-01-26T07:14:00Z")
My wife works for orthopedic doctors. One of her co-workers wrote in a report that a patient was injured “on the tennis quart”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-mangled-language/710369.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-mangled-language/710369.md?page=5)