[AMG Power]

Originally Posted by binand

..probably the author's intention was to say 'Aiyoh is a quintessentially South Indian word'. :-)

He would be wrong if that was the intention too; for as per OED, "aiyoh" is a chinese word and "aiyo" is the South Indian equivalent.

[aadya]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

she is married with her own children. And probably regularly called Aunty!

Disclaimer: I am not an expert.

Wouldn't it be right if it was "She is married and has her own children" and "And probably being regularly called Aunty" ?!

[Thad E Ginathom]

... quite likely: mine was a very clumsy sentence!

"Lady, you're standing on my foot" is so much pure American colloquial usage, that I can't even think it without an American accent . And a black and white Hollywood background!

Lady/woman related to status was exactly right in my 1950s British childhood. So it is probably "right" for India today

Popular culture of the 1960s is not such a good place to look for language that moves attitudes forwards. Many great songs are very sexist!

[motorsan]

Two annoying usages that my 5 year old daughter picked up from school:

1. Using "Even" in place of "Too/Also". e.g. "Even I" instead of "Me Too" or "I also"

2. Usage of "Only" for stressing a fact. e.g. "I am here only". Shouldn't it be "I am here itself" or just simply "I am here" ?

At a loss how to teach her the correct usage when she is bombarded with wrong usage all around :(

[binand]

You need to provide context and full sentences; without those it is hard to comment. But...

Originally Posted by motorsan

1. Using "Even" in place of "Too/Also". e.g. "Even I" instead of "Me Too" or "I also"

2. Usage of "Only" for stressing a fact. e.g. "I am here only". Shouldn't it be "I am here itself" or just simply "I am here" ?

The second is one that I keep hearing, to indicate that one's been in position for a while now irrespective of any evidence to the contrary. Though I feel "I'm here" is just fine, it probably doesn't convey the emphasis properly.

The "itself" version is plain wrong, I think.

[Thad E Ginathom]

I thought that both these were standard Indian English usage. "Even I," as I see/hear it on this forum and elsewhere means "and me," lacking the "surprisingly..." element of British usage. I'm struggling to define the British usage here. Maybe I got retuned to the Indian usage!

The classic only example... We are like this only.

I have a feeling that putting itself on the end of things is done by the Welsh. Let me add ??? to that!

[arunphilip]

Originally Posted by motorsan

2. Usage of "Only" for stressing a fact. e.g. "I am here only". Shouldn't it be "I am here itself" or just simply "I am here" ?

Probably best to say "I am right here" to emphasize your location. It would depend on context, however, whether this is preferable to the simpler "I am here" that you mentioned.

[motorsan]

Originally Posted by binand

The "itself" version is plain wrong, I think.

Thanks. Had no idea it was wrong.

Here is a discussion on the wrong usage of 'itself' that I found on the web:

https://english.stackexchange.com/qu...e-word-itself/

[dailydriver]

Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit,
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes,
I will be brief...

Lord Polonius (Hamlet) would have been happy reading this headline.



Source: Bangalore Mirror (Dt: 18/11/2018, Pg 1)

[binand]

This thread surfaced today:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shift...me-you-do.html (Heard of pgportal.gov.in? About time you do)

The title should say "About time you did", shouldn't it? To make it grammatically, pedantically correct?

[Thad E Ginathom]

Yes. It should match the tense of heard.

[dailydriver]

For everyone out there trying to express appreciation / admiration, here's a very simple word.

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Thanks to Suma Nagaraj in Deccan Herald (05/01/2019) for bringing back attention on this word. A supercalifragilisticexpialidocious attempt, I must say!



Wikipedia has a list of such real and imagined long words in English.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

... ... ... real and imagined long words in English.

But Germany can beat us hands down on that, even with common, every-day words!

.

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

But Germany can beat us hands down on that, even with common, every-day words!

Guten Tag!

Now that you brought English's linguistic sibling into the picture, a quick look at this article might be in order.

[binand]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

But Germany can beat us hands down on that, even with common, every-day words!

My mother tongue (Malayalam) also does that - combining several smaller words into one, long, often tongue-twister word.