It's an odd thing though isn't it? If I see a film with a foreign character speaking with a foreign accent in English it seems more believable than the person just speaking English. The was the partial beauty of 'Allo 'Allo for me. Similarly, we don't know how people spoke in day-to-day speak in any era (unless we have unrehearsed recordings), so transposing what we say now to then in written form is correct in a way - as the people would have been using 'common' talk as we all do now. Get me drift John? Even a Roman would have been saying the equivalent of '..oi,oi..'ow's yer belly of for corned beef tins...' in Latin ...tempered for class of course in each era. So hearing or reading a Roman soldier say to his friend '...fancy a pint..' may seem incongruous, but they would have had their equivalent.
Can you explain, @B3, when we say bring and when we say take?
Also, the sequencing of adjectives is something we can all do instinctively without thought. If the dog was old, big and black we would have no difficulty in ordering those three words correctly. Do Asian languages have the same rules, I wonder.
I phoned the bank once and they asked me how I wanted to be addressed. I obviously had other things on my mind or I wouldn't have called them so I said I didn't mind. Next time I called,, a patronising young chap addressed me by my first name. It was the first time that I realised what it felt to be politely treated like a mouldy dithering vegetable . I don't bother the bank often but next time, they were less familiar. Someone must have put them straight. In general, l prefer people to use my first name, but only if I've met them.
Same with my husband. Unfortunately/ fortunately I only have one name. The first one was bad enough😐 I think that at an age yet to be determined, every child should have the option to change their first name. If this is done before bank accounts etc are opened, it shouldn't be a problem. If a child chooses something stupid, the parent could get a court order to ensure that the child's choice of name would not become official for two years. This would give time for the child to move on from transitory cool names they might later regret.
Most magazines have a piece from the editor who always signs it, usually flamboyantly, with just their given name. I always think ‘Have we been introduced?’
In a similar vein, when people do introduce themselves the format often adopted is “Pleased to meet you. My name is Frank ... Frank Spencer.” I then think “Ah, Frank Frank Spencer, like Boutros Boutros-Ghali.”
Another date quirk I have noticed is that we say ‘ [the year]Two thousand, two thousand and one, two thousand and two’ etc but then it changes to Twenty ten, twenty eleven and so on.
Personally I cannot handle well the American habit of only using hundreds and not thousands especially when talking of prices. Two thousand three hundred dollars is more accessible to me than twenty three hundred dollars.
I pedantically used to keep saying "two thousand and..." up until "two thousand and nineteen". I absolutely hated (eg) "twenty eleven". Too American.
However for some reason I've now switched to "twenty twenty" and "twenty twenty-one". I'm annoyed that I've reverted to this, but then I guess looking back I would say "nineteen twenty one" for 1921, so there's logic to me saying "twenty twenty one" for 2021...
I don't know what the "correct" way has always been!!
Posts
Also, the sequencing of adjectives is something we can all do instinctively without thought. If the dog was old, big and black we would have no difficulty in ordering those three words correctly. Do Asian languages have the same rules, I wonder.
Here is the order, for those who are interested
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/adjectives-order
Why 'Mice' and not 'Mouses':
https://youtu.be/-NuZ1FmCewg
I don't bother the bank often but next time, they were less familiar. Someone must have put them straight.
In general, l prefer people to use my first name, but only if I've met them.
I think that at an age yet to be determined, every child should have the option to change their first name. If this is done before bank accounts etc are opened, it shouldn't be a problem. If a child chooses something stupid, the parent could get a court order to ensure that the child's choice of name would not become official for two years. This would give time for the child to move on from transitory cool names they might later regret.
In a similar vein, when people do introduce themselves the format often adopted is “Pleased to meet you. My name is Frank ... Frank Spencer.” I then think “Ah, Frank Frank Spencer, like Boutros Boutros-Ghali.”