No painting today, but a personal bugbear...the national virus of saying "I was sat, or stood"...aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!
This mangling of the English language seems to have insinuated its way into every corner of these isles!
Would anyone ever dream of saying "I was ate"? No, they would say "I was eating". So, why on earth does seemingly 90% of the population now say "I was sat", or "he was stood", when they mean "I was sitting" or "he was standing"?
I'm amazed at how many extremely bright and erudite people on Radio 4 say "he was sat, etc." and how most BBC reporters say "I am stood here, etc." I believe that most people actually believe it is correct. IT DAMN WELL ISN'T! So, let's have a campaign to rid the country of this sloppy, lazy, ugly manipulation of our language that has infiltrated its way into the mainstream of life, before it becomes accepted as correct!
And another thing - why do SO many people preface or end what they say with "to be honest", the inference being that normally they'd be dishonest, otherwise, why bother saying it?
Rant over! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
This mangling of the English language seems to have insinuated its way into every corner of these isles!
Would anyone ever dream of saying "I was ate"? No, they would say "I was eating". So, why on earth does seemingly 90% of the population now say "I was sat", or "he was stood", when they mean "I was sitting" or "he was standing"?
I'm amazed at how many extremely bright and erudite people on Radio 4 say "he was sat, etc." and how most BBC reporters say "I am stood here, etc." I believe that most people actually believe it is correct. IT DAMN WELL ISN'T! So, let's have a campaign to rid the country of this sloppy, lazy, ugly manipulation of our language that has infiltrated its way into the mainstream of life, before it becomes accepted as correct!
And another thing - why do SO many people preface or end what they say with "to be honest", the inference being that normally they'd be dishonest, otherwise, why bother saying it?
Rant over! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Oh Peter, a man after my own heart!!! I agree with you completely. Here in Somerset people say "I led down...." Now I would have thought it was "I lay down"?
ReplyDeleteSadly I think it is a loosing battle, people don't seem to want to appear to be educated anymore....it's not cool you know?
That's probably forgivable Bev - it's more dialect than bad grammar with our rich West Country accents, don't you think? But, I fear you're right - I doubt many English teachers know what's correct grammar any more, unless I'm being too cynical! Strangely and interestingly, after posting my same rant on Facebook, folks from the US and Oz say nobody says 'I was sat' or 'he was or stood' over there, so it's just the mother country that's gone to the dogs as far as grammar is concerned :(
DeleteWtf are you talking about?!?!?! :-P
ReplyDeleteBugbear, national virus, your sat or stood, ... does this all mean your sick and not able to paint?
Ha ha René, yes, we're all doomed to speak a foreign language, but at least we can still paint.
DeleteOh my ... where to start?
ReplyDeleteI despair when I see/hear modern news reporting. I had an email from M&S today inviting me to enjoy their 'Bargins'!!!! If M&S get it wrong, what hope for the rest of them??
Happy New Year by the way :-)
Funny you should say that Sue...quote from the back of an M&S pack of BBQ Pork Belly Squares:
Delete"Remove glaze sachet and cocktail stick sachet. Ensure that squares are stood seasoning side up within the pack."
I kid you not! I've saved the packaging and am going to photograph it and send it to M&S and see if they can spot the grammatical error - somehow I doubt it!
Hello Peter,
ReplyDeleteAlan and I share your pain! Our pet hates are "haitch", "gotten" and the incessant use of the word "like" several times in the same sentence......innit? Happy New Year Peter, kind regards Edith and Alan
Yes, I'm like with you there Edith! It's like everywhere among the yoof! They do at least seem to grow out of it as the years creep by in my experience, then replace it with "I was sat", aaaargh! Happy New Year to you too!
DeleteHi Peter,
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain at the bastardization of our common language (though we Americans have been bastardizing it for centuries) and I feel it is increasingly at risk with new technologies like texting and spell-checking that encourage laziness in our youth, as if learning one's mother tongue is not all that important. I have not heard the expression "I was sat" here in the States; it seems very passive, as if one were an inanimate object being manipulated by other hands. But the list of violations is endless, it seems.
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