Baburra

Oh man, this happens here too. As much as I hate being petty, and I do try not to be, I can't help but cringe whenever the local people here morph English words into what they think is cute. The worst thing is that many people do find it amusing and cute and it basically turns into a whole array of bastardized words and phrases vast enough to become a dialect of its own. I just mostly try to ignore it, though, no sense getting worked up about it, but it is difficult to avoid especially since it's all over social media most of the time. I was referring to a different show, but if HIMYM used that detail then it's probably more common than I thought. Also, I'm not particularly annoyed with the specific words you gave but I know what you mean since they do sound kind of like that type of word that would be annoying, and it really bothers me not to know why.

I love the English accent too, so I know what you mean. It just sounds so formal and proper that you can't help but hang on to every word even when what is being said is relatively insignificant or casual. As for the Swedish accent, I've only mostly heard parodies of it and a few times from one of my friend's friend who is Swedish, to be honest, but I actually find it very charming in some ways.

I've never read old books, so this specifically has never happened for me. However, I do still check definitions online from time to time because I still run across a good number of words that I did not know the meaning of. Also, since I do like to write, I usually check online for synonyms of some of my more overused words.

Good point! I do this too. Whenever I am trying to read boring text like terms and conditions, I usually just skim through it and even though I still pay attention to every single word, I usually go through it a lot faster since I want to be over with it as quickly as possible. If I'm reading something for entertainment purposes, however, I tend to take my time and really immerse myself in each sentence.

I agree. Spanish sounds very romantic as well and I think it's why a lot of people see the Spanish language and those who speak it as being passionate. Even the names of the Spanish, I think, sound very full of passion and romance, to be honest.

I once watched a show wherein a character was described as one who hated the word "moist", which I found very amusing mostly because it did not peeve me that much, but I know that if it did then I would be terribly annoyed when it was mentioned too. That said, it's partly what gave me the idea that this trait is more universal than I originally thought when I was assuming that it was just me who experienced these types of annoyances. I myself have some of these pet peeves such as the use of certain shortcuts like "It'll" instead of saying "it will" but for some reason I am not annoyed when it's used for human pronouns such as "He'll" or "She'll". That, and many many more but I'll save you guys from my list. :frozen: I don't mean to offend anyone who does use these words and phrases, I'm just being honest and believe me I'd love to just do away with this annoyance if I could but I can't help it. Anyway, do you guys have any pet peeves like this? Do you have any idea why these things annoy us?

I agree. I think like many things, people tend to lose the message or the purpose of a certain tool after a while and focus too much on the tool itself. I know I fall victim to this attitude sometimes and I try to correct it as much as I could whenever I find myself doing it. You made a very good point that it's just something to use to better understand each other and as long as the message is conveyed as clearly as the speaker meant it then it should all be alright.

Very good point and thanks for sharing your story! I would have found that surprising too, although I wouldn't necessarily attribute that to only the native English speakers since English is an international language and even other tourists might also try and use English to communicate so I would assume that it's partly the reason why countries that are welcoming of tourists are more English friendly.

I see this too and even in cases that are less extreme, we can't deny that English words are already being used with certain languages and it is seen by the locals as a norm. Although, it is refreshing to see that there are still countries like Japan, Sweden, Korea and China who still give precedence to their culture and language over anyone else's, I have to admit.

Very good point. When people are mimicking accents or even celebrities, I think the details really become prominent and it allows us to study it on another level that we may have missed before. I suppose it's why it is socially acceptable to do so because we also learn from it as people.

Wow thanks for the insight on what it's like to visit Korea. I had imagined that even countries like that would have been a little more English-friendly by now, but from your account I guess there really still are countries that are mostly still using their own language solely. Knowing this, I'd guess that Japan would probably still be the same. You are right, though, and it's a good thing that even just a little bit of English and a lot of hand gestures is enough to carry a brief conversation or transaction.

If it would happen, I think it will take a very long time. I think it takes a lot more than just commerce for a country's language to take over. America has such a stranglehold of the international culture not only through its movies and music but also in our online communities due to the main sites being American.

I am pretty much the same way, but I do still type in slang at times when I'm just chatting with my friends online, since it would seem a bit odd, I think, if I were to type so properly when I speak to them in a totally different tone offline. I'm a lot more proper in forums with strangers, though, as I think it is only polite to both the members and the forum owners.

I'm not sure whether this would be considered an idiom, but the phrase "For the birds" is used for when something is said to be nonsensical and should not be paid attention to. I think it was used more in the olden times, but I kind of think that just makes it a bit more charming.

I learned a lot of my English & Chinese grammar and sentence structure by reading a lot of comics as a kid, so I would recommend that especially for younger people. Granted, at the time I had a lot more interest in the comics themselves rather than learning a language, and learning just became a bit of a byproduct, but still, it's a great way to sneak in some lessons within a fun activity.

I agree and I find it very amusing as well. Also, like you, I wonder if acronyms like LOL will be official once the kids of this generation start becoming the leaders. I am not for or against it, but like I said, I find it highly amusing and I look forward to possibly seeing the president we have decades down the line using these terms normally.

Good point. I think kids should be allowed to choose whether or not they would like to learn a new language, but I think English should be highly considered since it is widely used and will offer many benefits when the child grows older.

Same here. I think American accents are a little more well known and can easily be separated since we're all so exposed to the different ones through media, but since other countries' shows aren't as mainstream, people tend to be less familiar with the differences of the different areas and accents and therefore we all just assume that it's all just one accent. I think a lot more people are aware of the different British accents though, since British media and culture are still relatively mainstream as well.

I haven't really thought about this before, but now that you mention it - it does kind of feel different in my head when I'm listening to a song rather than a speech. I think the tone also helps with memorization as when I hum the tone to a foreign song I also remember the accompanying lyrics that go with that particular verse.

I agree completely, and I'd probably just react the same way. Personally, I think the merits of knowing English is pretty obvious, and one who doesn't see it more likely just chooses not to see it, so there wouldn't be much cause to put effort into convincing him or her. It's not really that I consider it his or her loss, but I just would accept that we are all different and have different priorities, as I also am sure that I have a lot of my own biases as well.

I'd say I'm mostly an audio/kinesthetic learner based on the graphic, but honestly, I think I'm a mixture of all and I suspect most people are. In my opinion, the ones who only identify with one would probably be more of an exception in this case, since I have been with a lot of my classmates while learning and we all pretty much used whatever method was necessary to retain the information.

I understand what you mean. I've even come across some people who aren't able to differentiate between Asian languages such as Japanese, Chinese and Korean, but I think that's understandable since we are all in our little bubble in some ways and it might not be practical to expect everyone to understand and be interested in languages enough to know the global rules. Also, you made a great point about the Australian accent and the point of it probably still having some regional variations, and I'd love to find this out if it's true or not.

I think the main way is to regularly use it and talk to people in the same language, but if it's unavailable for one reason or another, maybe just by reading books in that language might also suffice to keep your knowledge at bay. Also, it might help to really ingrain it into your memory at first so even when you don't use it for a while, you'd still have a good enough idea of it in the future and would just need to brush up on it to re-learn all of it again almost instantly.

I agree, idioms can be terribly confusing, and I am also confused by the ones that have the properties of that you just stated which is that they are the opposite of what they mean but universally understood as such. A common one that has been confusing me lately is "giving the benefit of the doubt", which to me is very confusing because you would only give the benefit of the doubt to someone you already doubt, in which case, why would you give him or her "the doubt" and why would it be beneficial? I understand what it means in general, but when I dissect it like that it confuses me.

I don't know if this would be considered as an idiom, but calling someone a "knockout" means they are beautiful, and I assume this means beautiful enough to knock somebody out. Also, to "knock it out of the park" means a home run in baseball, but when used in everyday conversations, it means that you did things perfectly - similar to hitting the nail on the head but used more for tasks instead of ideas.