Apparently the work of a dyslexic sign maker !

I'm with worthy. This is an informal chatroom. I have limited time online, so I type very fast, seldom taking the time to correct spelling errors here. I do take issue with glaring errors in mainstream publications, books and journals.

Another annoyance is with some new usages of words, as in "When are you going to PLATE that dinner?" Heard often on TV shows, the use of plate as a verb, not a noun. It just sounds silly to me. As well, the use of "orientate" for "orient," as a verb.

It is my understanding that the word plate used as a verb is specifically used in culinary schools and restaurants. It is part of the language of a chef. At the same time, it is not used in other circumstances with the same ease.

Neither of those words used as verbs are "new" usage and both are accepted usage per Merriam Webster. 'Plating' is very common in the food service industry and 'orientate' seems to have more frequent usage in the UK.

Here in the UK 'Orient' always refers to the area/countries that form part of the Middle East; think "We Three Kings of Orient Are"

Orientate means to face or be turned in a particular direction, originally I suppose, the East.

yoyo, I don't think your (Dr) Joe Smith shows enough gravitas to run a successful medical practice. What will happen at Easter? Will he jump out of a gigantic egg?

Luckily over here Dr's are NOT allowed to advertise, neither are drug companies, although ads for 'over-the-counter' remedies eg cough medicine or head-ache pills are allowed.

One of my daughter's friends - a favorite of mine - always refers to "Toys r Us" as "Toys r We". Gotta love that girl!

One of my pet peeves is the use of the word graduate. We used to say one graduated FROM high school or college - now it's "graduated high school". It just sounds SO wrong!

My late husband used to write to the TV stations in Maine, asking them to correct their newscasters who had the habit of saying, "President..., he". Drove DH nuts. They replied that this is now "general usage". General to whom? Those who have a poor education?

Anglo, in the US don't you also say "She played piano" "He waited table" and probably many other eg's. Where are your "from's" "the's" and "at's"? No doubt it will only be a matter of time before we head down the same route.

Vee......

I think your two examples are accepted either way : She played piano OR she played the piano. Perhaps it's a nuance like, " In the orchestra she played piano" vs " There was a violin and a piano available and she played the piano."

It's funny...yesterday after I read a bunch of the entries in this thread I looked at Facebook and saw that one of the President's photos for sale has a misspelling. They used to when it should be too.

Donna

Vee, English and American usage will always amuse or befuddle us, I suppose. In my mystery reading, in Britain people are in hospital. Here they are in THE hospital, always.

I also notice the frequently used "graduate high school." Of course, people don't graduate the school--they graduate from the school. Another new usage that bothers me is using couple as a direct modifier of a noun, e.g., couple times, couple dishes, ad nauseam. Where is the preposition, people?

Those of us who like words and proper usage are in for a rough ride, I fear.

I dislike when people ,due to ignorance ,create new words by blending several , for example : SUPPOSEABLY ( supposedly + probably ) . It's like being in a bad comdey skit !

However , I have noticed that there is a certain way of speaking in various areas nearby that are unusual to my ear, for example, instead of saying " Do you want to go with us ? " they say " Do you want to go with ? "

Carolyn, I hadn't noticed that but one would say "going to the clinic/ dentist etc." in the UK , I think.

In Western Australia we tend to name the hospital involved, usually with a short form, as "He has been taken to Charlie Gard'ner' rather than "He has been taken to the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital" which is too much of a mouthful!

Is this a difference in meaning?

Both DH and I have US cousins. Recently one couple (on my side of the family) were staying and politely wrote a 'Thank you' letter after they got back home. While they were with us we rounded up various children/relatives and all went out for lunch at our local pub. We were able to eat in the garden and a good time was had by all. Cousin S mentioned this and said when she wrote "The meal at the pub was quite nice". On a separate occasion I had given her one of my pots of home-made marmalade and she had told us "The marmalade was quite nice"

Over here the quite word is an eg of being damned by faint praise. If a school report said so-and-so is quite good at maths/science/ French it means while they are not actually bad there is little to be said in their favour. The same for the eg's I gave above.

Does quite (in this context) have a different meaning?

On the other hand a couple of years ago a cousin of John's plus wife and two sons, who we had never met before, visited and J arranged and paid for their accommodation at a B&B. We entertained and fed them and although they thanked us as they left we never heard from them again!

Carolyn, re going to 'the' hospital. Do you also say "The man was sent to the prison" "The children are going to the school" Over here you might say "After the accident was the man taken to the doctor's or to the hospital?" No idea why we have these differences!

In yoyo's post above she begins " I dislike when people . . ." Over here we would say "I dislike it when people . . ."

Also above Donna uses the expression 'a bunch of entries in this thread' the 'bunch' word seldom used over here in that context . . perhaps a bunch of flowers . . .but I have no doubt it will be in general use soon. What the US does today we do tomorrow. ;-)

Vee......When the word " quite" is used in the US I understand it to mean " very".

So when someone says a meal was " quite good" I would take it to mean that the meal was very good, more than one expected.

On the other hand if someone is described as " quite rude" for instance, it would be more than just a little rude !

Hope this helps.

Yoyo, that was quite a good explanation and I hope that Vee is quite happy now!

Vee......reading your response above, I really should have used "it" in that sentence when I wrote " I dislike when...". You are quite correct !

Vee, I'll second Yoyobon, "quite" should be considered to mean "very" in American parlance. Not damning with faint praise at all!

Thank you for clearing up the 'quite' thing. It has put my mind at rest!

On the other hand for anyone visiting England from the US beware of asking "Do you like my new hat?" If the answer is "It's quite nice." it wont be. It might just mean so-so, OK, nothing special . . .

Thanks for the " heads up" !!

Although it still makes me wonder how that word useage got to be so completely different .

Perhaps it's like when those in the southern US say " Bless her/his heart !" and they absolutely mean " What an idiot."

Am I right all y'all out there ?

20 words which have completely different meanings in US and UK :

http://www.bigstockphoto.com/blog/20-british-words-that-mean-something-totally-different-in-the-us

Vee, here in FL we have a lot of synonyms for many - bunch, herd, flock, gaggle, etc. :)

Also, in the south we often say we're fixing to do something or go somewhere.

I was derided by other Army wives from "up north" when I said I was fixing supper. They said they were "making" a meal.

No, Vee, we don't use "the" for anything but hospitals. Don't know why; it just is. Actually, I say I am going to the store, meaning grocery shopping, but that is probably colloquial usage because I grew up in the country way back when there were a lot of general stores from which one could buy most anything. I am a bit younger than Laura Ingalls, though.

If one has lived all over the US as I have, one gets used to all sorts of colloquial and slang expressions. When I lived in PA, it was "when are you going to GET dinner?" Down south, usually one fixes dinner.

I've noticed we Americans are picking up Briticism, increasingly. One example: often one reads in news sources that a person "went missing." Back in the day, a person was just "missing."

Another example, citing myself, I note I've picked up the leaving out the "the", as in "When I was at University..." I've even taken to saying "when he was in hospital..."

I had no idea that to a Brit "quite nice" is not praise. Wonder why or how or when the changeover occurred....

I wonder also.

In UK when " Quite ! " is used after another's statement it is taken to mean " absolutely ! "

yoyo. I think your eg of 'Quite!' might be said with raised eyebrows . . .

Does that insert a bit of doubt ?

I think "Quite" used in the above context is the 'reduced form' of "quite so" so it would mean absolutely/you are correct . . .

I think your US meaning of 'quite' was used here in the past "The party was quite delightful" "My daughter's boy friend is quite charming" sound rather 'dated' to us in the UK; it's difficult to explain without being face-to-face.

Well then, come on over !!!!

In my opinion orientate is not a word. Orient means to adjust a map such that you know where you are. The original maps of the world had three areas drawn onto a circle. There was Europe and Africa splitting the bottom half of a circle, and the Orient was the entire top half of the circle. When you had the Orient at the top of the map, it was said to be oriented (not orientated). They did not have the concept of north, south, east, and west, for maps, but they knew where everything was relative to each other. ...or so I'm told.

Can we chat about February? Recently I heard two people on NPR and PBS clearly say Feb-u-ary. Yesterday I saw it spelled Feburary. I'm not sure how that would be pronounced. Is there a new pronunciation allowance for February?

I agree wholeheartedly ! Opinionate is a strange version of the actual word.

What irks me ( oh ...such a long list ! ) are the talk show hosts on the radio who have such poor diction. They say " thur " instead of their. Moww-un instead of mountain. Lah-in instead of Latin. etc etc etc.

It seems the world bends to the new ways....even in speech.

Yoyo, we used to have a local weatherman who said "Sarrdy" instead of Saturday.

Dchall, I don't think I've ever heard anyone pronounce the first r in February. Though my FIL says Wednesday exactly like it's spelled (most folks say "Wensday.")

How many politicians have you heard that can't/won't say "government" or "president"? It often comes out "govment" and "presdent".

And since I'm on a roll, why are there so many people who apparently can't say "nuclear" correctly? :)

Donna

Or 'realtor".

Yes, Yoyo! :)

There's a town on the east coast called New Smyrna Beach, and a huge number of people say "sa-myrna". I always wonder, do they say "sa-mall" or "sa-mart"?

Donna

I agree -- "orientate" is not a word. People have bastardized "orient." (the verb).

Down south, we hear "liberry" for the pronunciation of 'library." grrrr.....

Msmeow.....oh,yes. My IL's are from the north and always called it

" Noosa-Murna" !!

woodnymph.....Many years ago I taught in a school whose principal was basically a fool . He would get on the loudspeaker for announcements and say :The Libarry will be closed today.

During a faculty meeting he told us to "fill in your martial status " instead of marital.

Cringe-worthy moments.

Locally there is a street named " Beethoven Street"

It has been called BEET-hoven......BEE-thoven.....but never actually the correct pronunciation by the folks in town .

"Orientate" is most certainly a word!! According to Merriam-Webster, it's a transitive verb (1849) meaning to align or position something; originally to turn or face to the east (Orient).

"In the UK, it is more common for people to say “orientate” whereas in the US, “orient” is more common. Writers in both countries sometimes bemoan the usage of the alternative word. In fact, both words are acceptable according to the dictionaries.

The Oxford English Dictionary and the Merriam-Webster Dictionary list “orient” and “orientate” as verbs meaning the same thing. Which one you choose to use really just comes down to local preference. To a UK reader, “orient” may well sound non-standard, whereas “orientate” may sound clumsy to a US reader. Other parts of the world will have their own preferences. The key thing to remember is that both forms of the verb are generally acceptable."

But I refuse to use it :0)))))

I'm with ya on that!! It just sounds awkward (and somewhat contrived) to me. But it is a "real" word :-))

So is " ginormous" which I also refuse to use !

I hate "ginormous", too. It just sounds ugly. And I refuse to use "plate" as a verb, even though I am well aware it is quite chic usage among the plethora of pricey restaurants now thriving throughout the USA.

IMO,,,,If you are a chef you use " plate" when directing your staff period.
I frequently hear it on cooking shows when the cook says " Now I'm going to plate this up." Professional jargon is okay in the profession. Apparently it's "chef-ese".

'Ginormous' is a great word! Don't use it often but I do use it. It is extremely descriptive (always a good characteristic for an adjective) and means exactly what it sounds like......something that is giantly enormous!! Whereas 'orientate' is just confusing. And awkward sounding.

Sort of like " more bigger ". My grandson loves that one !

I have two sayings that irritate me.

One, which I have only ever read or heard from Americans, is 'I could care less' which clearly means the opposite of what the person is trying to convey.

The other is 'the proof is in the pudding' which is meaningless. 'The proof of the pudding is in the eating' clearly means you can only tell how good something is when you use it for its intended purpose.

I would also say orientate - many of these things are Commonwealth usages, and what sounds right is directly related to what you heard growing up. 'In back' sounds weird to me, but 'in front' is fine. And I had a hard time stopping my two boys saying 'wait up' when I felt the 'wait for me' I'd always used to sound much better :)

I would never use plate as a verb in my conversations but I think it is acceptable in a professional kitchen.

Astro, I think the phrase "I could care less" shows how poor the American education system can be. I would guess most people who say it are repeating what they've heard and have never thought about what it really means.

The phrase "waiting on line" instead of IN line annoys me. And at work they say people "called out" sick. To me it's calling IN sick.

Donna

My suspicion is that people who read books, magazines etc. have the language in their mind in a visual way and these errors are less common.

I agree with Msmeow that the mistakes are probably made by those who simply are repeating what they hear .

If you are standing IN line, then you are waiting IN line. However, if pehaps the local patois says ON line then that's what you'll hear. As long as we all get the gist I guess it really doesn't amount to a hill of beans !!