The Academy of Linguistic Awareness

[K7KBN]

How about the word "give"? Nobody gives anybody anything any more - but they do "gift". And if you don't like what they "gift" you, you can turn around and "regift" it.

[G4OTU]

I suppose the worst people are those who speak in "jargon" when there is no need.

Another annoyance , at least in the UK, is the upsurge of the word "tranche" when they mean batch.....everybody is using it now ....why?

AFAIK it really only should be used with regard to financial transactions.

[G4ALA]

Some of the worst "Jargoneers" are to be found in IT. A year or so ago I was working on turnng a Linux platform product (there's a bit of jargon already) into comprehensible English when I found a term that was not clear (as few of the terms actually were, but this one more so). The tem in question had 530 different ascribed meanings, including 40 that seemed to relate to the topic in hand. Take your pick. The IT author probably had his own unlisted meaning.

And acronyms, do not get me started on acronyms. Ther are..........um......like..........err..know what I mean??

John G4ALA

[N4IAG]

What about Ebonics? Some people actually want this taught in school.

English: "You need to get money so that you can get expensive accessories for your car."
Ebonics: "You gots to git those Benjamins so you cin git dat bling-bling fo yo ride"

English: Hello, sir
Ebonics: Whad~up?... dawg!

English: "Hello, miss, you are looking very beautiful. I was wondering if you could possibly spare a minute of your time so that I could get to know you better."
Ebonics: "Ayo wassup ma, damn yous lookin fly why dont you let me holla atchu for a hot minute"

[W3WN]

Dude! You are, like, SO-O-O right, Dude! I'm all, like, "WTF?" Gnome sane?

Eh. Surfer/Valley Girl dialect. Piece of cake.

Try figuring out Pittsburghese when you're not a native... I've been here 30 years, and I'm still learning...

[G4OTU]

I'm guessing that Ebonics is something like "rap-talk"?

(I lead a sheltered life!)

[WF7A]

Wiki's your friend: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebonics

[KB3LAZ]

Eh. Surfer/Valley Girl dialect. Piece of cake.

Try figuring out Pittsburghese when you're not a native... I've been here 30 years, and I'm still learning...

Heh, come now, you have to have the hang of it by now.

[G4OTU]

Thanks for the link. I can't help noticing that the paragraph below from that page, beautifully illustrates my comment about jargonistic speech.

A two-year-old term created by a group of black scholars, Ebonics may be defined as "the linguistic and paralinguistic features which on a concentric continuum represent the communicative competence of the West African, Caribbean, and United States slave descendant of African origin. It includes the various idioms, patois, argots, idiolects, and social dialects of black people" especially those who have adapted to colonial circumstances. Ebonics derives its form from ebony (black) and phonics (sound, the study of sound) and refers to the study of the language of black people in all its cultural uniqueness.

[K7KBN]

N4IAG: Your signature reminds me of a poem attributed to Arthur Guiterman...ahem...:

The tusks which clashed in mighty brawls
Of mastodons are billiard balls.

The sword of Charlemagne the Just
Is ferric oxide, known as rust.

The grizzly bear, whose potent hug
Was feared by all, is now a rug.

Great Caesar's bust is on the shelf
And I don't feel so well myself.