User avatar
By patgadd
#23842
Wayne Barnes' latest video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rov3vhtz_s0 refers to "jackling". Surely the player, like a jackal, rushes in to the kill (breakdown), tears off a ruddy great lump of meat (the ball) and makes off with it. Our man is surely therefore not a jackler but a jackaller; he doesn't, after all, take any part in the tackle. Is anybody still awake, or am I the only logophile with nothing better to do?

And yes, I do realise that it's a made-up word so it doesn't matter. In case someone quotes some tosspot online dictionary at me, I've just searched the web and found something called Rugby Coach Weekly which agrees with me, for what that's worth. I'm off to sulk n the corner now.
User avatar
By TeflonTed
#23856
1) You’re right. Except possibly for the extra l.
2) You will be accused of pedantry, and for not heading your post as O/T.
3) Sorry you’re bored, I have things to do.
User avatar
By patgadd
#23874
As a young pharmaceutical rep, I suspected that my boss never read my daily reports. To test him, I included the word floccinaucinihilipilification in one such report. It went unnoticed, as I had thought it might, and from that day on I just wrote whatever came into my head.

Incidentally, isn't miasma a beautiful word? Not for what it means of course, but just for the mellifluous sound of the word.
User avatar
By poyntonshark
#23888
I think you are 100% correct, including the double 'l'. I care too, but probably not as much as you. For the most part, I see language as a means of communication, if the audience understands what the speaker/writer is attempting to convey then the language has fulfilled its task. You clearly understood what Mr Barnes was referring to so the Language he used did its job.

Fauteuil, not strictly English but does appear in English dictionaries with a particular meaning.
User avatar
By patgadd
#23893
poyntonshark wrote:
Sat Jan 16, 2021 4:14 am
For the most part, I see language as a means of communication, if the audience understands what the speaker/writer is attempting to convey then the language has fulfilled its task.
OK, let's take "jackalling" out of it as it's a specialist word. If you were to say: "What was you doing in the garden?" I would understand you, but what about some poor person from another country trying to learn English? Surely we should make some attempt to speak our own language properly.
User avatar
By poyntonshark
#23894
Yes, up to a point. But, the language student would probably understand the phrase, and you would understand a foreign person if they spoke that phrase in that way. If they are a formal student they will be learning more about English grammar than most students do in England and will know the error. Learning a spoken language allows you to fit in with the locals, not correct grammar and syntax.
User avatar
By TeflonTed
#23896
G’day Poynton, are you sure you’re completely aligned with local practice?

I notice you don’t start every answer to a question with “Ah look......”
User avatar
By patgadd
#23897
poyntonshark wrote:
Sat Jan 16, 2021 9:51 am
If they are a formal student they will be learning more about English grammar than most students do in England and will know the error.
I have many friends in a certain foreign country. They all think they can speak English, having learned it from two sources: tourists and television. From the former they learn that phrases such as "you was" are correct (and that the plural of you is youse). From the latter they learn how to mispronounce words such as harass and communal, not to mention that, because their tv comprises largely American shows, Tuesday is pronounced Toosday. One of these friends teaches English to the natives. I rest my case.
By SimonG
#23899
patgadd wrote:
Sat Jan 16, 2021 10:28 am
poyntonshark wrote:
Sat Jan 16, 2021 9:51 am
If they are a formal student they will be learning more about English grammar than most students do in England and will know the error.
I have many friends in a certain foreign country. They all think they can speak English, having learned it from two sources: tourists and television. From the former they learn that phrases such as "you was" are correct (and that the plural of you is youse). From the latter they learn how to mispronounce words such as harass and communal, not to mention that, because their tv comprises largely American shows, Tuesday is pronounced Toosday. One of these friends teaches English to the natives. I rest my case.
I like agree like with what you are like saying like.
User avatar
By poyntonshark
#23901
TeflonTed wrote:
Sat Jan 16, 2021 10:16 am
G’day Poynton, are you sure you’re completely aligned with local practice?

I notice you don’t start every answer to a question with “Ah look......”
In these parts answers to questions generally start with "Yeah, naaaah...."


You are kind of proving my point @patgadd you understand what your friends are trying to convey, therefore the language has served its purpose. It may not be correct and you should, absolutely, correct them at every opportunity. Remember, it is also entirely possible to use language correctly and leave your audience wondering what on earth you have just said. I'm certain you will remember Leonard Sachs.
User avatar
By TeflonTed
#23904
The BBC doesn't help.

I have just heard a newsreader tell us that President Biden will be inaugurated Wednesday.

I"m sure she meant ON Wednesday,
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