terence57 Posted February 21, 2016 Report Share Posted February 21, 2016 Over the past couple of decades I have noticed the phrase "put some language around...(a certain topic)" turning up in conversation with ever greater frequency. In particular, political debates harness this phrase a lot, as if language was a kind of legalistic power tool. So, is this any different from saying, say, "write a clear report about" or "let's condense these ideas into writing"? Or is there some special way of using words that I am not familiar with, and where does this originate from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanda Kaishin Posted March 13, 2016 Report Share Posted March 13, 2016 Your native language is listed as English. Is that a mistake, or are you really coming to this forum to try to improve your mother tongue? As for your question, it depends on the context, but I think it's normally used as an informal way of requesting someone to write something up so it can be evaluated, voted on, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
宇崎ちゃん Posted March 13, 2016 Report Share Posted March 13, 2016 On 3/13/2016 at 1:40 PM, Wanda Kaishin said: Your native language is listed as English. Is that a mistake, or are you really coming to this forum to try to improve your mother tongue? Expand Having English as your native language doesn't make you the sage of everything regarding the English language. I often find myself in situations where I even have to teach Americans or Brits some English, because they "don't care about spelling and/or grammar". In many cases, non-natives can even get more knowledgeable to a given language than native speakers, because native speakers generally never learn super complicated words or rules while a non-native speaker does (unless the native speakers have to, like studying law for example). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanda Kaishin Posted March 14, 2016 Report Share Posted March 14, 2016 On 3/13/2016 at 2:51 PM, Blaveloper said: Having English as your native language doesn't make you the sage of everything regarding the English language. I often find myself in situations where I even have to teach Americans or Brits some English, because they "don't care about spelling and/or grammar". In many cases, non-natives can even get more knowledgeable to a given language than native speakers, because native speakers generally never learn super complicated words or rules while a non-native speaker does (unless the native speakers have to, like studying law for example). Expand Hahaha - do you realize how many errors there are in your post? You need to learn to just let it go man. If you're not willing to do the work required to reach C1/C2 in a language, then just be happy with your level and don't get frustrated. Correcting native speakers because you think they are in error is a fruitless pursuit, and you are no doubt better off using that time and effort practicing your languages instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
宇崎ちゃん Posted March 14, 2016 Report Share Posted March 14, 2016 On 3/14/2016 at 5:30 AM, Wanda Kaishin said: Hahaha - do you realize how many errors there are in your post? You need to learn to just let it go man. If you're not willing to do the work required to reach C1/C2 in a language, then just be happy with your level and don't get frustrated. Correcting native speakers because you think they are in error is a fruitless pursuit, and you are no doubt better off using that time and effort practicing your languages instead. Expand I can take a lot, but this just got too rude. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trellum Posted March 17, 2016 Report Share Posted March 17, 2016 On 3/13/2016 at 2:51 PM, Blaveloper said: Having English as your native language doesn't make you the sage of everything regarding the English language. I often find myself in situations where I even have to teach Americans or Brits some English, because they "don't care about spelling and/or grammar". In many cases, non-natives can even get more knowledgeable to a given language than native speakers, because native speakers generally never learn super complicated words or rules while a non-native speaker does (unless the native speakers have to, like studying law for example). Expand LOL, agreed. So many native English speakers out there don't seem to know the difference between ''they're and ''their'', it does get in my nerves, but I understand this is very common specially among English native speakers. It's the same with Spanish speakers, I think most people have doubts regarding to their own mother language sometimes, I actually have grammar and orthography books (2) . I've them just in case I get stuck with something I bought them a long time ago, because I figured out I could always improve my Spanish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.