I like how English is constantly expanding; it has over 5,000 more words than the next closest language interms of "word volume," and has the most words of any language. Its evolutionary nature is fast and fun. If we were to bring back any Olde English, I think bringing back "Thee" and "Thou" would be useful. It would eliminate confusion with the "you singular/you plural" situation. I would feel like a total dork talking like that, though.

Nice to know I have Shakespeare to thank for the term "Mind's Eye," as Skye Klad used that term for the title of one of our old songs from 1999!
http://s52.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0...I3GYBSUXIV0Z4Y

'Thee' and 'Thou' are very nice, yes, as is 'verily'. I'd love to hear 'forsooth!' and 'bygads!' used more often, instead of swearing.

I think we should also bear in mind that when too many tight controls are placed on the development of language, as I believe is the case in Spain, the language and it's ability to inspire arts can also suffer.

Without the freedom we woud lose all of the slang cultures and regional variations that exist, and that most of us love.

aye?

I THOUROUGHLY ENDORSE THIS PRODUCT OR CERVIX.

[Words ending with -ix are excellent.]

I agree with idiomatic use of English (Fucktard; Wankbaskets etc.)

I don't mind some grammatical errors (periods; correct use of semi-colons & hyphens).

I piss blood at their/there/they're and your/you're.

I suspect that the main offenders are native speakers rather than second-languagers.

There is rarely any need for an exclamation mark. There is never a need for more than one or exclamations interspersed with question marks.

A QUESTION MARK INDICATES THAT YOU ARE WRITING A QUESTION. IF YOU DO NOT WRITE THIS I WILL READ WHAT YOU HAVE WRITTEN FIVE TIMES TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THE HELL YOU ARE SAYING. FOLLOWING THIS I WILL BE ANGRY AND CEASE TO READ YOUR POSTS.

Ellipses are a privilege, not a necessity (I am an offender here).

Check your spelling with the internet: HERE

This is almost always the case. Second-languagers learn the rules, in structured and clear form, from books. native speakers learn primarily by the example of those around them; by the time an English child is four an starts scholing, their speech patterns will already be to some extent decided.

To the list: Boon. Whizzo. Champion (as in "that's champion" rather than "He's a champion").

I saw a sign in my local Homebase the other day which said, "Their are many more offers inside!!!". Those are the best, when they know there's a rule they should follow but have no idea which one to put so put the one which makes least sense, in one of those delightful reverse-logic things.

*Edit: I really, really like swearing if done properly. Really posh people saying, "You're a fucking buffoon [sp?]" makes me laugh an awful lot. "You're a ruddy twat" is a oft used phrase of mine. Oooh, oft - that needs more usage says me.

A few more: dash it all, tally ho, toodle pip, blighter, cad. they're all such marvellous things to say, and I do try to use them, but I fear they are doomed to obsolesence. My favourite phrase is probably 'rather splendid'; try it out, it's such a pleasure to say.

How about a sign that gives a list of Special Offer's? That was insane.

Or Orange's 10p? What? Do the oranges own ten pence?

ahahahhaahah it's so fun this thread!

I sue all of the above apart from 'splendid'; I went through a period of saying 'splendid' at the end of every single sentence. It has taking many a beating to remove it from my everyday vocabulary.

I am quite a fan of neo-compounds (ones which are non-standardised) - everyday and thankyou being my particular faves (or is everyday in there?).

Oooh, spiffing. That needs brought back.

Where to begin...

Pokkeherrie, pay no mind whatsoever to a thing Savage Clone says. He is delusional, a compulsive liar, and he collects Hummels, a dangerous and sometimes baffling combination.

I concur with Hip Priest on non-native speakers being less likely to use incorrect grammar - as he pointed out, they learn English in its formal and structured format, and therefore are often much 'better' speakers than native ones.

Iain, people that neglect to check their writing on formal/official documents piss me off ROYALLY. Add to that those businesses that spell things incorrectly on their marquees. One would think that if a sign representing your company is going to be visible to thousands, you would at the very least make sure you're spelling "February" properly. The sheer LAZINESS of it appalls me!

Actually, I lied about my Hummell collection.
I thought it would make you think I was cool.

I should clarify that I do not object to the expansion or refinement of the English language. I realize that the lexicon is dynamic to accomodate periodic and social climates, and I'm all for that. What I do object to is the adoption of certain abbreviations/idioms/shortcuts to to adapt to the growing sloth of the American public. For some reason, the elimination of a grammatical rule because of the tendency to disobey it is simply pardoning the criminal, and to an extent encouraging lazy linguistic habits.

Congrats on your promotion Hip Priest!

I blame the Rap Music.

And energy drink companies spelling "extreme" without the first "E."

No. There is only one way to spell FebRuary.

F E B R U A R Y is the way I was tought in school in the UK. And, as the English are superior speakers of English, this is the way you should spell it.

Pffft. Don't try and save face now. Besides, Hummels are out. Now if you'd said Lionel trains, I'd have been all over you like white on rice.

I'm often surprised how much spelling errors the native speakers do.
I'm pretty aware of my english being quite bad, as far as the grammar is concerned, but usually I think I spell the words correctly.

Nowadays I use this quite a lot, whenever I see a word I don't comprehend.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/

Now this is a debate a friend of mine in Ireland and I have quite often. He gave me grief while I was over there for mispronouncing words, which I still maintain that I pronounce correctly according to 'universal' English rules.

For example, "vitamin" - standard rules of pronunciation indicate that when a vowel is followed by a singular consonant, the vowel is pronounced 'hard' instead of 'soft' (I forget the formal terms for that). Therefore, I would deduce the proper way to pronounce "vitamin" is the American way, "vY-ta-min," and not the English way. However, we say things like "der-rect" for "direct" when, if we adhered to that same rule, we would use the English pronunciation of "dye-rect."

Basically, we should standardize this shit so we stop sounding like morons.

"Tought" is not a word, you know. "Taught" is the real thing.
Signed,
An American English Speaker.