Disappearing English

[MineralMan]

Recently, a rapper used an expression, "Imma" as a replacement for "I am going to." It set me to thinking about other expressions in English that seem to have lost most of their substance.

"Imma" is similar to "Ahmo," a relatively southern expression with the same meaning. "Ahmo kick your ass," for example.

The words "to be" appear to be headed for extinction, too. "That car needs to be washed" is almost universally shortened to "That car needs washed" in much of the country.

And that country has, as its chief executive, a President of the United States. Today, that has changed, and even our professional TV journalists refer to the "Presen United States" instead.

"Terrorist" has now become "Terrist," in a more subtle loss of syllables instead of entire words.

Words are not always lost, though, as my experience in a Walgreens demonstrated recently. I was looking for a small television set, and asked a person there if they had them. Her answer was, "We used to did, but not no more." I fled in horror.

Does anyone else have any other examples of our disappearing English letters, words, and phrases? If so, please add 'em here.

[rug]

1. Lol . . . er, excuse me, I meant to say hearty chuckle.

[Tobin S.]

2. "I ain't got no," for, "I don't have any."

I actually say that one. I know, it's terrible. :hurts:

[Bucky]

14. It's really not terrible. Sometimes "ain't" makes the point better than "it is not"

Try saying "That isn't the point, dipshit" instead of "That ain't the point, dipshit" to a dipshit who's acting obtuse in substantive argument. You'll see what I mean.

[Odin2005]

21. Most other languages have no problem with double negatives.

Spanish uses them all the time: "No conozco nada" means "I don't know nothing". The rule against double negatives was a complete invention of grammar Nazis who decried it as "illogical", meaning "not like Latin". The attack on "ain't" is pure classist nonsense. ain't is derived from an old contracted form of "am not", "amn't", but it was hard to pronounce and thus the M dropped out.

[Richardo]

3. "So-scurity"

...is how many "news" people, national office-holders and even presidential candidates say 'Social Security' now. Drives me crazy.

[MineralMan]

4. I hear that one as 'so skirty," and thought it was

a subtle misogynistic dig. Shows what I know.

I've also heard people talking about getting their "social," in reference to the same program.

[MineralMan]

5. Another one is "nome seine" as a replacement for

"do you know what I am saying?" Note: I consider the standard contraction "I'm" as acceptable.

[MineralMan]

6. Then there's the "Jeet?" "No, Jew?" combo.

[david13]

7. Jeet jet?

(Did you eat yet?)

[liberaltrucker]

10. Naw, yont to?

:)

[WinkyDink]

8. The language HAS deteriated!

[Inchworm]

9. Evolved?

:yoiks:

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. Not disappearing; evolving just as it has always done so, with more

dialect variations and casual registers forming along the way.

[Bucky]

12. Sadly, you'd have a lot to pick apart when I speak. My rhetorical questions start with "Idnit"

Idnit terble how I przint myself in public?

[GreenPartyVoter]

13. I love to dangle my prepositions. It sounds so formal and awkward to say it correctly on

a message board or in casual conversation.

[Bucky]

15. Dangle away. There's no reason at all you can't end a sentence with a preposition.

That's a great example of a totally pointless, arbitrary rule that someone just made up one day and then the mob followed along with it because it just sorta seems more proper. More constricting language doesn't make one's rhetoric more formal. It just makes it more stiff.

[Odin2005]

20. In fact, those BS rules actually violate the grammar of the actual language.

English is not Latin. English is a West Germanic Language and West Germanic languages do funny things with verbs and prepositions.

[Odin2005]

18. There is nothing wrong with "dangling" prepositions.

That nonsense came from 18th century grammar Nazis that thought English should be more like Latin. In fact, they are a vital part of the language, called "phrasal verbs". Examples are look at, look for, look to, look up, get up, get in, get off, take on, take off, give in, give off, etc. They are a highly productive form of verb derivation in spoke English

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrasal_verb

They are similar to the "Separable Verbs" of other Germanic languages.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separable_verb

[Bucky]

22. Hence the phrase "preposition baggers"

By the way, "18th century grammar Nazis" is an interesting phrase, since there weren't actual Nazis till the 20th. If they were that bad, shouldn't we really call the Nazis "20th century racial grammarians"?

[Odin2005]

16. My version is "I'm'una". Grammaticalized usages tend to become phonetically reduced.

Also, English's sound structure discourages long words because of very strong stress, leading to syllable loss.

I pronounce "president" as "preznit" and "terror" as "tear"

[Monk06]

17. An Outer Limits episode explored this question in 1964

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRFcr4BKLAU

[Xipe Totec]

19. Anon, good nurse!

[BuelahWitch]

23. "We has seen Idiocracy and it is us"

To paraphrase the old Pogo comic strip...