Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

Proofreading Service - Pain in the English
Proofreading Service - Pain in the English

Your Pain Is Our Pleasure

24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More

Username

AnWulf

Member Since

June 19, 2011

Total number of comments

616

Total number of votes received

571

Bio

Native English speaker. Conversant in German, Russian, Spanish, and Anglo-Saxon.

Ferþu Hal!

I hav a pilot's license (SEL certificate); I'm a certified diver (NAUI); I'v skydived and was qualified as a paratrooper in the Army (Airborne!); I was a soldier (MI, Armor, Engineer).

I workt for a corporation, was a law enforcement officer, and a business owner.

Bachelor's in Finance; minor in Economics
Masters of Aeronautical Sciences

Strong backer of English spelling reform.

Browncoat

Now I'v written my first novel [ http://www.lulu.com/shop/lt-wolf/the-world-king-book-i-the-reckoning/ebook/product-22015788.html ] and I'm working on others.

http://lupussolus.typad.com
http://lupussolusluna.blogspot.com
http://anwulf.blogspot.com

Latest Comments

Word in question: Conversate

  • November 25, 2013, 3:18pm

As an American military vet, I can't recall seeing the word 'trainings' however a quick look over net shows that it tends to be found in "higher" writings ... that is, writings by folks with doctorates. It's not held to the US. This book was publish'd in London: http://books.google.com.ar/books?id=m985hH3C0wgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=trainings&hl=en&sa=X&ei=VKiTUqqvK5W0sASa44DgBg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=trainings&f=false

I will however own up to accommodations.

As for English being noted worldwide by businesses, as a former flight dispatcher, I can tell you all of our airport managers and even ramp agents were expected to at least write in English ... we found it much better to "text" our handlers in China than speak with them on the phone as their spoken English was truly hard to understand at times. Even in our Paris offices all the flt planners had to speak English. English is the tung of aviation. All controllers must speak English ... as must any international commercial pilot.

While I understand what someone would mean if they noted 'conversate", it is not a word that I would say.

“I’ve got” vs. “I have”

  • November 15, 2013, 12:58pm

@WW ... A few of those words on your list are well known outside of Scottish English. Well, at least they're known in AmE but then we hav a lot of folks whose forbears came from Scotland ... pinkie, wee, loch (there are place names in the US with loch), dour are all well known and noted in the US ... a few others less so ... dreich, whist. To red(d) ... not on your list) is to clean up or get ready.

Pronunciation: aunt

  • November 15, 2013, 12:38am

@Carol345 ... Lots of folks say the 'l' in walk, talk, asf. It's not hard to add the 'k' to 'tall' to make the 'talk' sound. But then, in my neck of the woods ... awl and all sound alike ... so the 'awl' and 'al' sounds the same. Thus tawk=talk.

As for the 'wh'. Most, not all, 'wh' words hav a 'hw' sound: what (h)wət, (h)wät http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/what . Indeed, in OE they were spelt with 'hw' ... hwæt (what), hwīl (while), hwæl (whale). It was one of those letter swaps in ME mainly owing to the French way of spelling with the Carolina script (putting the 'h' after the 'w' broke up the minims). Tho for another reason, we also took on the French way of 'le' insted of 'el' ... thus lytel became lyttle/little.

As I'v said before ... the word 'aunt' comes from Old French 'ante' (today's French 'tante') so there was no 'u' there to start with ... that came from Anglo-French so it chang'd in England tho we do fine 'ante' in late ME and erly Mod English. Even in OE, the way words were said would change from shire to shire.

Both ways of saying it are acknowledg'd so I see no reason to bicker about it. Tomahto ... Tomaeto.

“Anglish”

  • November 15, 2013, 12:14am

Ængelfolc, if you're still out there I hav another odd one for your etym skills.

German trübe, adj., 'turbid, gloomy, dull, dim', from MidHG. truebe, adj. (truobe, adv.), OHG. truobi, adj., 'obscure, gloomy, dull' allied to trüben, 'to darken, tarnish, cast a gloom over', MidHG. trueben, OHG. truoben, 'to darken, sadden'. ... In the non-Teut. languages there are no certain cognates of the Teut. root drōb, 'to confuse'.
Trübsal, n., 'affliction,distress', from MidHG. trüebesal, OHG. truobisal; an abstract of trüben. — Kluge, p369

Then there is Trübel, m., 'confusion, trouble', Mod HG. only, from Fr. trouble.

I don't know the root of the Norwegian and Swedish words (trøbbel and trubbel). They may also be from the French or from the ur-Teut.

If there was a Frankish one, I would think that we'd find something near to it in Dutch but I haven't so far. By the same toke tho, I find nothing near the OF truble in Spanish either which makes me lean towards a Northern France/Frankish root. Old French truble seems nearer to the Teut. root than to Latin turbid in both meaning and lude (sound).

“Anglish”

  • November 14, 2013, 11:55pm

@Jayles ... Yes, thole is a good one that I note. Dree is another one and is found in the phrase "dree one's weird".

@Jasper ... Yes, words come and go. One word that has thankfully fallen out which crops a lot in older writings is "succor" for help, aid. Yuck, what an ugly word. Sadly, we'v lost too many words that I think are pretty good.

“feedback” and “check in”

  • November 14, 2013, 11:00pm

@WW ... babysit is one word: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/babysit?q=babysit ...

Feedback as a noun goes way back to the 1800s. As verb, I'v found it at least back to 1959 (feedbacked ... which hurts my ears). As a verb, until somewhat lately, it was mostly in the technical fields. It seems to hav broken out.

From 1959: ... the appropriate judgement based on the criteria of the users on the characteristics of the supplied emulsion should be *feedbacked* to the emulsion makers ...

However, I think feedback as a one-word verb runs against the grain of most of the *back words. Buyback is one word noun but a two-word verb: "I bought back the the book."

For me, the verb should be "feed back". Thus I would write: ... the supplied emulsion should be *fed back* to the emulsion makers ...

While I hav to acknowledge that feedback as a verb stands, it doesn't mean that I'll be noting it.

“Anglish”

  • November 5, 2013, 9:15am

@Jayles ... Yes, more or less, it's true. It is also why grammarians tried to put Latin grammar rules onto English ... don't split the infinitiv; don't end a sentence with a preposition, and so forth. It was in this time that almost any learn'd bod knew Latin so writers would throw in either the Latin word itself (fraternitas) or a English'd take of the Latin word (fraternity). Sometimes when reading writing from that time, I hav to stop and go look up a Latin word that is thrown in like I should know it!

Pled versus pleaded

  • October 26, 2013, 9:31am

@Poppa Bear ... Pronunciation and spelling hav never been set in stone in English. If it had been, we'd still be writing hwæt for what, þurh (þ=th) for thru, and circ for church/kirk. That last one shows that the way words were said was not standard either. Circ was church in the south and kirk in the north ... and still is in many places. There's no overall authority on either grammar or spelling. The nearest thing that we hav are the sundry wordbooks and a loose band of grammarians worldwide but they don't all agree ... as we can see here with plead and pled. It's kind of chaotic at times but it works and things go forward.

“Anglish”

  • September 13, 2013, 2:21pm

“Anglish”

  • September 13, 2013, 12:51pm

@jayles ... I truly don't hav a problem with most short Latinates. I haven't found a word that I like better than "prey" when talking the hunted in a dark way. A good for "joy" tho might be win, wyn as in winsome (OE wynsum 'joy' + 'sum').

I'm trying to update my blog on OE Latinates now ... for some unknown reasum, it won't take. Every time I think I'm about done with it, I find more which is not amazing since many of the learnd folks back then were also the clergy who would would hav been steept in Latin.

As for after 1066 borrowings, I think one can see where many came in from the "brushings" so to speak and where many were jammd down. One thing that I do is to see if the word is found in other Teut. tungs. Family is pretty widespred thruout the Teut tungs so I thing that is a fair one tho often it can be workt around ... speaking of round, I'm trying to put the last touches on a blog where I put forth my thoughts on why "round" has a Teut root rather than a Latin one. I'm still beset with net hitches ... My afforder (provider) now says, since swapping in new gear on their end, that I'm out of range? How can I be out of range now when I wasn't before?

As for dialects, yes ... I was looking thru an old wordbook on dialects "A Glossary of North Country Words" (John George) last night and found many fetching words ... hain ... to save, preserve, spare, set aside ... listed as dial Eng. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hain (warning, it seems this isn't wontedly in their free wordbook but it was online today). The writer also says about "cute": cute - quick, intelligent, sly, cunning, clever. Generally thought to be an abbreviation of acute; but, in all probability, direct from OE cuth, expert … p89, Cute [looking over the meaning of cuth in OE, I think he's right].

I'll leav you with another Britishism that fills a gap. I'v been looking for a good word for "corrupt". There is wemm'd (stain'd) but that is unknown and needs a gloss. The other night I was watching "Casino Royal" (James Bond) and in the opening scene, the guy tells Bond, "If M thought I was bent, she'd sent a double-O." Right enuff, we find in the OED: 2 British informal dishonest; corrupt:
a bent cop http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/bent?q=bent If it is good enuff for Bond, it is good enuff for me!

Questions

What can I do besides... October 8, 2011