Pain in the English
Pain in the English

Unpacking English, Bit by Bit

A community for questioning, nitpicking, and debating the quirks and rules of the English language.

Pain in the English
Pain in the English

Unpacking English, Bit by Bit

A community for questioning, nitpicking, and debating the quirks and rules of the English language.

Username

Hering-Pownall

Member Since

July 15, 2008

Total number of comments

1

Total number of votes received

1

Bio

Latest Comments

Is ‘love’ continuous or not?

  • July 15, 2008, 4:58am

When the great Scottish restaurant chain came up with this grammatical inaccuracy, I also associated it immediately with the Scorpions' hit. Never having been an expert in written or spoken English, let alone English grammar, Klaus Meine (the Scorps' vocalist and lyricist) certainly wasn't aware of this problem when he penned the words to the song. If he was, which I doubt, he must have been referring to a much more physical way of 'love' than most of us thought at the time...

However, as every language is subject to a slow metamorphosis in certain areas, we will have to accept the fact that 'love' now does have a continuous form. And finally, a mere 20-odd years later, Klaus Meine's (who infamously once proclaimed at a 'Rock-against-right' concert: Let's fight FOR racism!) faux-pas is put right by history.

What are the publishers of grammar books going to do about this? Personally, I refuse to accept this form, because I don't love it...