Strewth the spelling of English is weird!

[pmccarthy]

2 hours ago, nomadpete said:

It'd have to be a solid algorithm for me to trip over it.

 

The algorithms I've met were just ones n zeros.

If you tripped over it, it was a logarithm.

[willedoo]

It's interesting watching how trends come and go with language. I listen to a lot of local ABC radio, and for the last year or two, most people being interviewed begin their answer with "That's a really great question". It can get a bit irritating when some people start every answer with that statement, a bit like a cracked record.

 

Another one that's taken hold lately when being interviewed is to start the answer in the affirmative with the words "One hundred percent!" or "Yes, one hundred percent!". One that I've never understood and find a bit irritating is the way 'innovative' has been pronounced in the last few years by politicians, media people and those being interviewed by the media. If you say the word innovate, you would pronounce it as that and not innovit, so why do they pronounce innovative as innovitive. Maybe it started with people talking fast which would change the sound of the word a bit.

[facthunter]

You well know what I Meant. Why is the Language a SHE?.  Cricket has a "Silly Mid-off " Position. but criticising it would not be cricket, would it? Also you can bowl a Maiden over and that's supposed to be a good thing. Strewth is a swear word. (God's Truth).. Fair dinkum. Nev

[facthunter]

I said "I couldn't agree more", and got Lambasted for saying it. It's not ambiguous. Better than waffling on.  American English is more Phonetic but the word meaning can be Lost.  Nev

[nomadpete]

The continual evolution of language is either a sign of laziness, or of inner-vittive thinking.

 

One nue-ism that I like is 'word salad'. It's a bit more polite than the old 'buzzword bingo' that it replaces.

[willedoo]

I was reminded of the differences in pronunciations on Sunday when I had to drive over to Nanango and back. The trip takes you through a town called Goomeri and I remembered a Kiwi bloke I knew years ago who pronounced it as 'Goomer-rye', whereas we pronounce it as 'G'mary'. He was having as much trouble pronouncing our Aboriginal place names as we have pronouncing NZ Maori place names. I was in NZ in 1977 and went to visit some people in Christchurch in a street by the name of Mahoe Street. I was pronouncing it 'Ma-ho' whereas the correct local pronunciation was 'Ma-hoy-ee'.

[old man emu]

46 minutes ago, nomadpete said:

English! - she is a silly language.

I wonder what happens if you type in a question to ChatGPT in a language other than English. Does it reply in that language, or in English?

[willedoo]

4 minutes ago, old man emu said:

I wonder what happens if you type in a question to ChatGPT in a language other than English. Does it reply in that language, or in English?

I tried it on Google AI. Typed in 'who are you?' in Indonesian and the reply was given in that language. A cut and paste of the answer in Google Translate gave this English translation: 'I am an artificial intelligence (AI) model developed by Google. My task is to assist you with everything from answering questions, searching for information, and translating languages to performing various data analyses quickly and accurately.'

[facthunter]

I'd be concerned if a lot of French Letters came back to me.. Nev

[red750]

The silent letters throw a lot of newcomers to the language.

 

B  Dumb, limb, lamb, crumb, etc.

 

K   Knife, knee, kneel, know, knowledge, knight, etc.

 

P   receipt

 

Plus others.

 

Then there are letter combinations.   

 

OUGH  Rough, tough, enough, through, though, bough, cough, thought, bought  -  6 different pronunciations.

 

 

[pmccarthy]

I had trouble in NZ pronouncing Manurewa. I thought I had the first part correct…

[old man emu]

How does one pronounce the word "wind"?

[facthunter]

I would want to wind you up. . Nev

[old man emu]

27 minutes ago, facthunter said:

I would want to wind you up. . Nev

Bloody Nev whined again!

[facthunter]

Wined and dined. Nev

[red750]

If a pineapple is not an apple, and doesn't grow on pine trees, why is it called a pineapple?

[rgmwa]

17th century English explorers thought it looked like a pine cone but tasted like a fruit. Apple was a common name for fruit of various kinds at the time so it became pineapple.