Hey, BeternU-or earthmomma

it's quite concerning to road puppy... he just can't keep quiet any longer!
i know, i should just quit!

That reminds me of the young lady from Boston who was taking an economics class. The teacher asked the class, "What is a quota?" and the young lady raised her hand and said, "Twenty-five cents!"

quote:

Originally posted by Road Puppy:
Seeing as yout two are our resident grammar nazis, can one or both of you tell me WHY nobody around here seems to ba able to spell the word "QUIET?" (As in "the opposite of LOUD.")

Everywhere and I mean EVERYWHERE I see the word "QUITE" being used in it's place.

Is it a regional thing? An accent-related thing? What?

What sounds like "KWAI-YET" where I come from sounds like "KWAAT" down here. Could this be why it happens? Or is it taught that way in Alabama?

It drives me bugsh*t.

It is just part of the dialect. I always want to ask "quite what?"! I arrived where I taught one morning and was told that one of the student teachers was going to paint "lines" on the walls of the hallway. At least that is what I heard. It turns out that she was an art minor and painted the cutest lions you ever saw down by the lower grade classrooms. BTW, RP, you called my name! An apostrophe in possessive "it" scratches my chalkbooard! LOL!

quote:

Originally posted by Elb the Bum:
it's quite concerning ...

Quite disconcerting indeed.

you mean quiet doesn't rhyme with kite?

If you are quite quiet you can hear a pin drop or ,at the least, perhaps a pen! Some more of that good old Southern. Note that upper case 'S'!

Puppy, your post made me realize that I can spell the two correctly, but my Southern drawl pronounces them the same way. I never noticed it. Some other ones are "hadn't" for hasn't, and "wadn't" for wasn't. I'm sure there are more that I don't even realize I am sothernizing also. With my deep accent I do pronounce wire and fire the same. At least it comes out like wire not war and fire not far. The I is more of a grunting sound and not the 'Yankee' pronunciation like Iy. God, no wonder evey one looks at me like I'm an idiot. I sound like Carl from Slingblade, but I like the way I tawk.

quote:

Originally posted by bluetick:
Puppy, your post made me realize that I can spell the two correctly, but my Southern drawl pronounces them the same way. I never noticed it. Some other ones are "hadn't" for hasn't, and "wadn't" for wasn't. I'm sure there are more that I don't even realize I am sothernizing also. With my deep accent I do pronounce wire and fire the same. At least it comes out like wire not war and fire not far. The I is more of a grunting sound and not the 'Yankee' pronunciation like Iy. God, no wonder evey one looks at me like I'm an idiot. I sound like Carl from Slingblade, but I like the way I tawk.

ummmhumm!

Well awriit tin. uummm

quote:

Originally posted by bluetick:
Puppy, your post made me realize that I can spell the two correctly, but my Southern drawl pronounces them the same way. I never noticed it. Some other ones are "hadn't" for hasn't, and "wadn't" for wasn't. I'm sure there are more that I don't even realize I am sothernizing also. With my deep accent I do pronounce wire and fire the same. At least it comes out like wire not war and fire not far. The I is more of a grunting sound and not the 'Yankee' pronunciation like Iy. God, no wonder evey one looks at me like I'm an idiot. I sound like Carl from Slingblade, but I like the way I tawk.

LOL He's jus' retarrdid is awl.

Having lived in Illinois for 45 years; I would have thought I lost my southern drawl and ways of pronouncing words but the people there were forever correcting me as how to say certain words. My wife who worked in sales and wwas on the phone with people all over the counttry did lose some of hers. Since we moved back home to Alabama some people ask her if she is from up north. I answer them with the same thing I have always aid: Yep, sheis fromthe wrong side of the river. She was born in Huntsville. Spelling words according to sound is I guess some of ,(our), southern born and southern bred right. If it bothers you; then you must not be from here. If yoy agree: quit being quiet and let the world know that far can be distant but it also can be hot!

Yes, earthmomma. I forgot the rule regarding the case of "it" being possessive.

My bad.

BTW- I'm not pickin' on the accent. I understand that part. The point of my post was not to sound superior to anyone as many here seem to want to do. As I've stated before, I'm a tenth-grade dropout. I can and do speak fairly articulately, but I do not nor have I ever had to make my living based on correct grammar. That's why I asked you-You apparently either DO or have in the past.

And I figured since BeternU makes a habit of typing great big, long diatribes in archaic English -He/she might be able to enlighten me also.


I saw a handwritten sign on a door at work the other day where a driver training class was in progress. It said "Training class- Please be quite!"

So then I'm thinking "be quite WHAT?"

My grammar's far from perfect, but I DO try to get it right. Especially in the case of two separate words that have two separate pronunciations and meanings.

/shrug.

Ticker- I know about the pin-pen (tin-ten) merger. Back in the 70s when I was in elementary school here in Florence (J.W. Powell school), I was taught that those two words were homonyms. Same with the "fill-fell" merger. I recently picked up a paper that a Weeden student had left on my bus that had been corrected by a teacher-who had given the student a really low grade for it. One of the sentences had the words "The snow fell" (correct) in it. The teacher had drawn a big red circle around the word "fell" and corrected it to read "fill" and told the student to practice getting it right.

I change words like "wasn't" to "wadn't" just as you do in my speech. it's just easier to say it that way. New Yorkers/New Englanders are no exception. I may have spent three decades in the northeast, but I spent my childhood formative years here and in West Virginia.

I know a "tar far" when I see one.

Hoo keers.

Ah kin read writin' an write readin'

quote:

Originally posted by Jennifer:
Hoo keers.

You talkin to ME?

Well I did-enough to ask about it. Earthmomma keered enough to answer me.

That's hoo.


Fuhgeddaboudit.

[quote]The snow fell" (correct) in it. The teacher had drawn a big red circle around the word "fell" and corrected it to read "fill" and told the student to practice getting it right.[quote]

That is pitiful. I wonder if he/she was tenured and how her students did in the achievement tests?

quote:

Originally posted by bluetick:
[quote]The snow fell" (correct) in it. The teacher had drawn a big red circle around the word "fell" and corrected it to read "fill" and told the student to practice getting it right.[quote]

That is pitiful. I wonder if he/she was tenured and how her students did in the achievement tests?

Probably and probably "more better." lol.

quote:

Originally posted by Road Puppy:

quote:

Originally posted by Jennifer:
Hoo keers.

You talkin to ME?

Well I did-enough to ask about it. Earthmomma keered enough to answer me.

That's hoo.


Fuhgeddaboudit.

I shore wuz.

one of my favorite books is called Anguished English.

it's filled with teachers submissions of horrid examples of student test and quiz answers from across the country, covering all subjects, not just grammer. some of my favs are from history, such as whe nthe child explains to us the ben franklin invents electricity by rubbing two cats together while tied to a key on a kite.

and so on.

One of my favorites as related to me is: "My momma said to tell you I ain't no animal because I ain't got no tail." This is a follow-up to a health lesson. I love it and still laugh about it many years later!