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pezLiz, I read what you told me about this morning. Oh my God. XD
It's still really hard to get into Olive Riley's blog, probably because of the heavy traffic.
Not too long ago I was talking with Liz about how people use English. Personally I can't stand people who speak like this:
"People such as yourselves..."
"Yourselves"? What the bloody hell? While in some cases, using "yourself" and "myself" etc is perfectly reasonable, it seems like people are getting too scared of using the word "you". Is it too direct? Is it because you don't know when to use "me" and when to use "I", that you started using "myself", and so to balance things out you start to use "yourself" as well?
Oh, I'm clearly aware sometimes it's a style choice. It might even hint class differences. But some people utter these things when they're clearly just confused.
"I would like to thank you..."
Okay, so what's this business about "would like to"? If you're going to thank someone, then bloody well thank them. Doesn't "would like to" imply "I want to but I can't", or "if I could meet anyone, I would like to meet...", that sort of thing?
So what's wrong with "Thank you for..." or "I thank you"?
Okay, maybe that just sounds nicer or something. I don't know, I looked up WOULD in a dictionary and it's not helping. And then I read a report on a technical check (which means we tell them what they got wrong and what they should do) and I get monsters like this:
"[company] would suggest that the issue of the impact of ... needs to be considered."
Now, maybe I'm just a stupid foreigner. Just what is the WOULD doing there? In fact, why are we /suggesting/? The issue of the impact needs to be considered. We're telling them this, as a fact. So WTH?
Don't get me started on "I hereby enclose..." and "I endeavour to answer your queries upon my return." orz SOMEBODY, SHOOT THESE PEOPLE.
And then somebody is going to tell me, "just accept it, that's how English is done. It's like how people are ON the train when they're actually IN the train. DON'T QUESTION IT." ;;
It's still really hard to get into Olive Riley's blog, probably because of the heavy traffic.
Not too long ago I was talking with Liz about how people use English. Personally I can't stand people who speak like this:
"People such as yourselves..."
"Yourselves"? What the bloody hell? While in some cases, using "yourself" and "myself" etc is perfectly reasonable, it seems like people are getting too scared of using the word "you". Is it too direct? Is it because you don't know when to use "me" and when to use "I", that you started using "myself", and so to balance things out you start to use "yourself" as well?
Oh, I'm clearly aware sometimes it's a style choice. It might even hint class differences. But some people utter these things when they're clearly just confused.
"I would like to thank you..."
Okay, so what's this business about "would like to"? If you're going to thank someone, then bloody well thank them. Doesn't "would like to" imply "I want to but I can't", or "if I could meet anyone, I would like to meet...", that sort of thing?
So what's wrong with "Thank you for..." or "I thank you"?
Okay, maybe that just sounds nicer or something. I don't know, I looked up WOULD in a dictionary and it's not helping. And then I read a report on a technical check (which means we tell them what they got wrong and what they should do) and I get monsters like this:
"[company] would suggest that the issue of the impact of ... needs to be considered."
Now, maybe I'm just a stupid foreigner. Just what is the WOULD doing there? In fact, why are we /suggesting/? The issue of the impact needs to be considered. We're telling them this, as a fact. So WTH?
Don't get me started on "I hereby enclose..." and "I endeavour to answer your queries upon my return." orz SOMEBODY, SHOOT THESE PEOPLE.
And then somebody is going to tell me, "just accept it, that's how English is done. It's like how people are ON the train when they're actually IN the train. DON'T QUESTION IT." ;;
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no subject
Date: 2008-07-17 12:06 pm (UTC)I agree with elyndys it's more polite the longer the sentence, it also has the bonus of distracting you from the case in point, I was wondering if it will be possible, that you might, given the opportunity and with the correct materials made available to you, clean the toilet....
you've said yes long before you know what you've agreed to
but I was looking at this.
I endeavour to answer your queries upon my return
and can't help but notice that it's wrong, it should be I will, because there is no future tense in english, there is only future passive.
so it's "I will endeavour"
the one that gets me, "bear with me," obviously a panda is sat on the chair next to you helping with the work.
english is full of nonsence phrases, often lifted from other languages, that make no sense, if you try to understand it your brain will explode,
for example, as it were, as you do (usually following a description of something that's almost literally impossible - so i was paragliding down the face of Mount Kilimanjaro, as you do, when I crashed into a tree, so i was bareback riding zebras, as you do, .....)
the language is mad, it's a mishmash of other things and changes constantly quit whilst you're ahead.