After watching this video you will have many questions, such as: Who has a baby crocodile in their house? Can I get one? What happens when they get bigger? and What the hell was I thinking when I asked ‘Can I get one?’ But there’s no question about one thing: they make the cutest squeaking noises when you rub their chins.
The croc equivalent to purring?
I don’t want to keep one, but I would like to pet one.
Wait a mo’ – is that a drop of blood on the finger?
What ever happened to the word ‘petted,’ anyway? I hear that all the time now. “He likes to be pet.” No, he likes to be PETTED. (Why yes, I am feeling rather curmudgeonly this morning–why do you ask?)
And “saw,” too. “I SEEN a cute dog yesterday.” No, you “SAW” a cute dog yesterday. (Get off my lawn! 😛 )
It bugs me, too … but I recognize that language is always in a state of flux, and usage is king. Otherwise we’d all still be speaking Old English … or some Germanic forebear of same.
How does everyone feel about “effect change”? Hear that a lot these days.
From cursory internet researching it seems to be technically correct. But to me when someone say effect, that’s the result of some cause (ex. change). It just sounds so awkward and lazy at the same time.
Something I’ve heard to explain the difference between affect and effect is that “affect” is a verb and “effect” is a noun…except that they can both be used as a verb, and they can both be used as a noun!
I have no problem with “effect change”–it is correct, after all, and not that unusual. And I’ve heard that ‘verb/noun’ thing, too, but it’s no use because, as Allein says, both words are both verbs and nouns–and all those usages are correct (when, uh, used correctly). Granted, ‘affect’ as a noun is probably not too common outside of the mental health field.
“His affect is bizarre.”
“What effect will that have?”
“It may affect our treatment.”
“We’ll effect changes in his dosage.”
Yes, “flat affect” as a depression symptom (I know it is associated with other disorders, but that one’s mine) is the affect-as-a-noun example I always think of.
Or how about these amusing exceptions where we don’t really use the modified part as opposites:
Nonplussed, nonchalant: we never hear someone being plussed or chalant right?
Or even a more common word “overwhelmed”. We don’t hear people being just whelmed, though underwhelmed is definitely a word.
I think you can in Europe…
Ha! Glad it’s not just me.
I love that movie.
And speaking of Europe, in English we just add ‘s’ for plurals in the cases of Italians, Germans, Belgians, etc. What’s the plural for French, as in multiple French people (and for that matter all the ones ending in ‘ese’ – Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese…)?
I would say they’re left as is: the French, the Japanese…
But maybe a native speaker could give more insight.
I’m feeling rather gruntled at the moment.
Hmm, just the sound of that word, does not makes it seem the opposite of disgruntled. In fact “disgruntled” sounds like a double-negative 🙂
Concerning that . . . the misuse of ‘concerning’ is another one that seems to have popped up in recent years. “His pain is concerning.” Really? Concerning what? You mean, “His pain is OF CONCERN” or you are “CONCERNED ABOUT HIS PAIN.”
But then, I’m old enough to remember when “inflammable” was still a word. (Don’t even get me started.)
adjective
adjective: concerning
1.
causing anxiety; worrying.
“I find many of the comments very concerning”
According to this site, it goes back a few hundred years, though has become more common in recent decades.
http://grammarist.com/usage/concerning/
Inflammable’s still a word…it’s just not used much (which is probably a good thing since it sounds like it means the opposite of what it does, and that could be dangerous).
“since it sounds like it means the opposite of what it does”
Yep, that was the problem. Used to be things that would burn were marked “inflammable”–but people kept thinking that meant it was something that WOULDN’T burn. So they tried a “public service announcement” kind of campaign, to educate people, but it just didn’t work. So they finally gave up and just started marking things “flammable.”
Yes! Also, “I forgot to breath.” No, you forgot to BREATHE, and now you are dead.
I hate that one. I also see “loose” a lot instead of “lose” (much more often than the other way around).
A commenter on a blog I read fairly consistently writes “their” instead of “there” and it drives me nuts. He otherwise writes with proper grammar/spelling so I don’t know what his issue is with that one. It seems like it’s too frequent to just be a typo.
And not pronouncing the ‘g’ in ‘recognize.’ Or the ‘t’ in ‘sentence.’ grumblegrumblegrumble
And pronouncing the eighth letter of the alphabet as “haitch”.
I have a friend who always writes “loose” instead of “lose.” He has learning disabilities/dyslexia, though, so as far as I’m concerned he gets a pass. Not so much my other friend who is a teacher (physical education teacher, but still…).
I was wondering why so many people write “are” instead of “our” these days, and then I used talk-to-text on my phone and noticed it came up as “are.” So that may have something to do with it.
I have my set of what I consider irritating usages. “Foward” instead of “Forward”. “Media is” instead of “Media are”. Pronouncing the word “Pure” as if it’s spelled “Pyer”
Yes, I’ve also been seeing “mediums” as the plural of “medium.”
And since when is “gift” a verb…?
400 years ago…. 😉
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/gift-as-a-verb
Fascinating! Thank you. I’ve bookmarked the site.
That’s why I pronounce “our” like “hour”. Don’t get me started on “There is” followed by a plural noun… or “less” followed by a plural noun. People, it’s “fewer cars, less traffic!” Sheesh.
Is this baby Elvis and young Sonny Crocket?
Eeee! Miami Vice reference for the win! (When I was a teenager I had a sweatshirt with two mice on it wearing shades and pastel clothing, and it said, “Miami Mice.” I thought it was the coolest thing ever, which tells you all you need to know about dorky teenage me. 😛 )
I have a tee shirt with two kitties in Star Trek uniforms that says “live long and prospurr”. And I’m an old geezer.
I just ordered a T-shirt that’s a mashup of Cthulhu and Kool-Ade – “Cthul-Ade”!
Croc problems
https://www.sadanduseless.com/short-arms-long-snout/#more-61259
?
That THING was lunging toward the hand a few times. It is lulling its prey into submission with cuteness until it gets bigger.
However, the cute is strong. (for now)
Adorable now, bitey ouchy sneaky speedy terrifying later.
Yes, they grow up SO fast:
Leetle dragon webbed feets! and crocus is all… well. ok. if you put it that way.
Don’t crocus grow in springtime?
I’ll bet that was an automated spelling program. You may not write “crocs”.
I like how this post about a squeaky baby crocodilian has turned into a discussion about linguistics.
Everyone seems so snappish.