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Things people say that you never knew were actual words


Road Runner

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Does the dictionary include gonna?  I don't have a problem if it includes all colloquiallisms and much of latter is verbal, not something to write in ie. workplace emails.   I don't like seeing it formalized.  

I'll be honest about this:  We expect ESL speakers to learn English properly plus the jargon for social acceptance.   Alot of folks in the workplace, place demands on good English fluency ie. not having an "accent" for learners of English. 

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8 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

Does the dictionary include gonna? 

From https://www.rd.com/article/words-that-arent-words/ :

"Yes, gonna is a word—and it has been since 1806 (the same year the word litterateur was created, which strangely, is a real word as well).  So, the next time you think you’re “short-texting” when you type “gonna” instead of “going to,” grammatically speaking, you’re not incorrect." 

 

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20 minutes ago, Road Runner said:

In the dictionary, even.  :o

I ran across one of these this morning doing the Daily Jumble.  Apparently, "gotcha" is a real word and not just some mispronunciation of the phrase, "got you".  :(

 

I continue to be irritated by Wordle's acceptable "words".  We're losing the war on sanity.

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"Nother" is another.   :o

From the Reader's Digest article:

"Yes, Merriam-Webster shocks us once again with a whole nother commonly-misperceived-as-wrong word. Also spelled as ‘nother and used as another word for “other,” this word has surprisingly been used since the 14th century."

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47 minutes ago, Road Runner said:

I wonder how long it will be before the Oxford Dictionary includes the word, "jerkface"?   :(

While it may be unconceiveable that so many people use informal or 'non-dictionary' words, to get them to stop will be quite unpossible because they will use them irregardless of what any dictionary contains.

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1 hour ago, shootingstar said:

I'll be honest about this:  We expect ESL speakers to learn English properly plus the jargon for social acceptance.   Alot of folks in the workplace, place demands on good English fluency ie. not having an "accent" for learners of English. 

“We” do?  I honestly haven’t experienced that at all in the workplace.  We have numerous Hispanic, Vietnamese, Chinese, Cambodian & Thai people with strong accents in critical roles.  My firm hires numerous middle eastern folks and many of them have strong accents.  My family also never faced an expectation of non accented English. Both of my parents had heavy accents.

Is this more of a Canadian thing  maybe?   We certainly don’t see it in culturally diverse areas like SoCal.

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1 hour ago, Thaddeus Kosciuszko said:

While it may be unconceiveable that so many people use informal or 'non-dictionary' words, to get them to stop will be quite unpossible because they will use them irregardless of what any dictionary contains.

There's a difference between  spoken English and written. Huge. I also recognize language evolution is dynamic and organic, since it's human beings shaping it as we speak.

However for clarity for broad understanding by a broad audience, good written language and use of words is helpful. 

Would I blog using gonna, natch?  I would if it was just phrase to quote someone or I was trying to make an informal comment.  I seriously doubt anyone skimming a personal blog post that is not well-written in an engaging way, would stick around much on the post itself.....I stress to a broad international audience.

As you know, there are whole novels written in English dialects, slang, etc. Honest, it gets tiring to plough through a novel dominated by it for 10-20 pgs.

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12 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

“We” do?  I honestly haven’t experienced that at all in the workplace.  We have numerous Hispanic, Vietnamese, Chinese, Cambodian & Thai people with strong accents in critical roles.  My firm hires numerous middle eastern folks and many of them have strong accents.  My family also never faced an expectation of non accented English. Both of my parents had heavy accents.

Is this more of a Canadian thing  maybe?   We certainly don’t see it in culturally diverse areas like SoCal.

Let's not kid ourselves...moving into senior management roles, for different employers, it's noticeable how increasingly important that skill of sharp English language spoken communication and capacity to speak very well AND be understood in groups, becomes.

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41 minutes ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

I am disappointed they don’t recognize words like “satan”, “Latin” and “Koran”.

We tried using "bad words" on a type and talk machine at the toy store. No dice. Nice machines don't say satan.

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3 minutes ago, MoseySusan said:

We tried using "bad words" on a type and talk machine at the toy store. No dice. Nice machines don't say satan.

And it's just words, not even curse words. However I can see a kid parroting a word and then parent has to explain ...or not bother because of the brain effort it requires.

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I am making these comments because:

  • I know what it  means to be a non-English speaker...and when people make fun of Chinese heavy accented speakers
  • I worked very hard on enunciation and pronounciation as kid
  • I majored in English lit....so one is required to read a broad range of literary works.
  • I had to become skilled in presenting in groups and to become a better group instructor as an adult.  
  • I deliberately use colloquialism selectively in certain groups...for social acceptance if people don't know me, that I was born here in Canada.

Language is very powerful...it can validate, hurt, confuse or heal.

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4 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

Let's not kid ourselves...moving into senior management roles, for different employers, it's noticeable how increasingly important that skill of sharp English language spoken communication and capacity to speak very well AND be understood in groups, becomes.

I’m not kidding myself nor you. We have an EVP who has a really strong Indian accent.  The VP of IT infrastructure emails in broken English and his hard to understand when soeaking.  My company employs a diverse employee base (our founder & CEO is an immigrant so maybe he sees things differently) but we have really smart people in key positions who speak in accented English.   Even my Dr who is Vietnamese has a strong accent.

I have also seen this in many of the Fortune 500 companies I serviced as a contractor. Many key people with accents. 

I’m thinking it’s more common in this part of the world than yours. 

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7 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

I am making these comments because:

  • I know what it  means to be a non-English speaker...and when people make fun of Chinese heavy accented speakers
  • I worked very hard on enunciation and pronounciation as kid
  • I majored in English lit....so one is required to read a broad range of literary works.
  • I had to become skilled in presenting in groups and to become a better group instructor as an adult.  
  • I deliberately use colloquialism selectively in certain groups...for social acceptance if people don't know me, that I was born here in Canada.

Language is very powerful...it can validate, hurt, confuse or heal.

Granted this is a text which is less formal but here is a msg from a Vietnamese VP in our IT Dept. Many of his messages are in broken English which is how he speaks. But the guy is brilliant and keeps our network running.

 

EB94D3CA-A589-4091-AA6A-1F297B66BB2E.jpeg.d0f7cbceddd8ad1fd048255066d3c1f9.jpeg

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4 minutes ago, Kzoo said:

Has anyone searched kitchenwindow.  It is neither in the kitchen nor is it a window.  I expect to see in in the next edition of Funk and Wagnall's dictionary.

 

Nonsense. A metaphor requires a concrete understanding to support the abstract imagery. For kitchen window to represent a practical perspective, the user evokes a place called kitchen and an object called window.

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5 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

I’m not kidding myself nor you. We have an EVP who has a really strong Indian accent.  The VP of IT infrastructure emails in broken English and his hard to understand when soeaking.  My company employs a diverse employee base (our founder & CEO is an immigrant so maybe he sees things differently) but we have really smart people in key positions who speak in accented English.   Even my Dr who is Vietnamese has a strong accent.

I have also seen this in many of the Fortune 500 companies I serviced as a contractor. Many key people with accents. 

I’m thinking it’s more common in this part of the world than yours. 

I've worked in 3 national and global firms, as well  in 3 different provincial govn'ts.  Maybe it's the middle to sr. layers of management that I've seen/heard over the decades. :rolleyes:

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3 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

I've worked in 3 national and global firms, as well  in 3 different provincial govn'ts.  Maybe it's the middle to sr. layers of management that I've seen/heard over the decades. :rolleyes:

Yeah I’m not disputing what your experiences are, I’m just saying it’s not consistent with my experiences.  

To be honest I have met many people over the years who I had only spoken with over the phone or via email.  They have a surprised look on their face when meeting me for the first time as I don’t have an accent and have a European surname.

On numerous occasions I have smiled and quietly said, you thought I was white didn’t you? To a person,  yes I did…. I wonder if my treatment would have been different had I had a non European name or an accent?

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23 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

Yeah I’m not disputing what your experiences are, I’m just saying it’s not consistent with my experiences.  

To be honest I have met many people over the years who I had only spoken with over the phone or via email.  They have a surprised look on their face when meeting me for the first time as I don’t have an accent and have a European surname.

On numerous occasions I have smiled and quietly said, you thought I was white didn’t you? To a person,  yes I did…. I wonder if my treatment would have been different had I had a non European name or an accent?

Suffice, to say I could easily deviate into other much bigger topics of the day. :D

It is noticeable (to me) when a sr. manager is giving a public speech or addressing a bunch of  questions from the floor and they use "gonna" quite often in their speech. It's ok, just like forgetting to comb their hair or a noticeable tick that spoils the message a tad, which they want to deliver well.

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10 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

FUBAR was common military vernacular that seemed to work its way into common speak but it’s still not widely known. 

Anyone know FIIGMO?  Not sure if it was just an Army term?

My Army buddy loves BOHICA.  Maybe similar to FIIGMO (which I have never heard him say)?

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3 hours ago, ChrisL said:

“We” do?  I honestly haven’t experienced that at all in the workplace.  We have numerous Hispanic, Vietnamese, Chinese, Cambodian & Thai people with strong accents in critical roles.  My firm hires numerous middle eastern folks and many of them have strong accents.  My family also never faced an expectation of non accented English. Both of my parents had heavy accents.

Is this more of a Canadian thing  maybe?   We certainly don’t see it in culturally diverse areas like SoCal.

It’s unfortunately very real. I noticed it a lot in Nebraska-even with my former employer. I was actually excited to be in a more diverse environment with my new employer. I like having a broader world and social view but it makes many people uncomfortable. 

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19 minutes ago, groupw said:

It’s unfortunately very real. I noticed it a lot in Nebraska-even with my former employer. I was actually excited to be in a more diverse environment with my new employer. I like having a broader world and social view but it makes many people uncomfortable. 

That’s why I wondered if it was less of an issue in more culturally diverse areas.

Where people thought I was white was when I visited corporate offices in St Louis & Memphis.  Both pretty conservative areas with a history of racial tension.

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1 hour ago, ChrisL said:

The reference is totally different and not likely to be used in a civilian context. @JerrySTL @donkpow @Parr8hed  @Tizeye ever heard the term FIIGMO?

Wondered when the military/government acronyms would hit this thread.

Never said it when I got my orders as successfully negotiated my future destinations.

First time, the Col wanted to send be to Pope AFB (entered AF as a civilian employee at Camp Lejeune). "Get me out of the State of NC" and told him was claiming Florida as my home of record and didn't want the NC tax people to say "you never left NC." First assignment then became Maxwell AFB, AL.
PCS from Maxwell, overseas was a given and Col suggested Guam to see if I would be a chump and accepted. Off the top of my head I told him I was claustrophobic, and the Island was so confining. For good measure I told him the same applied to Hawaii (a primo assignment that only went to senior officers). His second choice was RAF Lakenheath which I accepted while noting England was large enough where not confining. :D

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4 hours ago, groupw said:

It’s unfortunately very real. I noticed it a lot in Nebraska-even with my former employer. I was actually excited to be in a more diverse environment with my new employer. I like having a broader world and social view but it makes many people uncomfortable. 

I will say this is,  what I do to my resume:  Minorities Who 'Whiten' Job Resumes Get More Interviews - HBS Working Knowledge

In my resume, I don't mention several yrs. of the volunteer  work where I have gained skills in communication complex subjects, in Asian-Canadian groups...literary arts magazine and the later, on board of a national organization for race relations. It was those  experiences made me realize how negotiate difficult situations/discussions  (on anything). I never mention it, should it be misunderstood that I be perceived as a rabble-rouser.   True, several jobs, I was hired explicitly to implement change because I had the skill set...usually digitizing operations, broadening client outreach strategy, etc. Yes, over the years, I've become a little outspoken..like last wk. where I told boss, some staff meetings was falling into rabbit hole of minutae.

Any career oriented  person wants to list firms /organizations with big /known names, etc. 

And cycling is the recent "golf" pre-covid....  for corporate team-building. How convenient for future corporate acceptability/acculturation. :whistle: My blog is public which is why I try to make aesthetically pleasing to the eye, if people/strangers  don't read my stuff. 

I'm sorry... this is outright job competition when I'm a candidate. Then while in job, one can't slack off ...well, in present job I'm a dept. where in our group, has no choice since  we have consult and train others.

 

"The researchers interviewed 59 Asian and African American students between the ages of 18 and 25 who were seeking jobs and internships. More than a third, 36 percent, said they whiten their resumes, and two-thirds knew friends or family members who had done so, all because they were afraid their resumes could be unfairly tossed aside if their race became obvious.

“The primary concern is that were trying to avoid a negative group-based stereotype that they felt could occur in a quick scan of a resume,” DeCelles says. “They whitened their resumes because they wanted to appear more mainstream.”

Different minority groups use different whitening techniques

Asian applicants often changed foreign-sounding names to something American-sounding—like substituting “Luke” for “Lei”—and they also “Americanized” their interests by adding outdoorsy activities like hiking, snowboarding, and kayaking that are common in white western culture.

One Asian applicant said she put her “very Chinese-sounding” name on her resume in her freshman year, but only got noticed after subbing in her American nickname later: “Before I changed it, I didn’t really get any interviews, but after that I got interviews,” she said.

Some Asians covered up their race because they worried employers might be concerned about a possible language barrier. “You can’t prove your English is good in a resume scan, but you can if you can get to the interview,” DeCelles says.

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1 hour ago, donkpow said:

I didn't hear anything in the service

Now this you can file a disability claim for.  I'd ask for full pension and lifetime medical.  Don't settle for anything less than half pension and lifetime medical.  If you need a good lawyer, let me know.  I'm not too busy to take this on.

 

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