Funny Advice 3

[AlexCuse]

I started a new class last night, and had a few 'writing tips' in the notes (we will have to write quite a few reports). Thought you guys might get a kick out of these:

-Prepositions dangle awkwardly if you use them to end sentences with.

-Avoid clichés and colloquialisms like the plague, or you will seem old hat.

-Employ the vernacular, while eschewing arcane and obfuscatory verbiage.

-Overstatement totally destroys any credibility you ever had forever.

I'm sure you guys have some good ones along these lines. Lets hear 'em!

Alex

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[stubnski]

Santa - I have a friend whose wife has been living in the USA for eight years now and she still asks for explanations when it comes to slang. For some reason I try to study up on the latest slang from my nieces and nephews (teenagers) when ever I know I'm going to visit my friend and his wife


Stubnski

 

[BobRodes]

Rad, dude, SO rad....

 

[SantaMufasa]

Rad, dude, SO rad....

Yeah, let's see and ESL tangle with that one!

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[Trevoke]

I was in ESL for all of two weeks when I came to the US. The test was to see if I could hear the difference between words like "wheel" and "will", "ring" and "rim", "whim" and "win" ...

Tao Te Ching Discussions : Chapter 9 (includes links to previous chapters)
What is the nature of conflict?

 

[ESquared]

I will my bicycle across crosswalks!

[COLOR=black #e0e0e0]For SQL and technical ideas, visit my blog, Squared Thoughts.

[sub]The best part about anything that has cheese is the cheese.[/sub][/color]

 

[SQLSister]

My fav is that one of my co-workers called "shotgun" to reserve the front seat when going to lunch. Typical Americanism. The next time we went to lunch our foreign co-worker called "shoot the gun" and now we use this phrase instead.

"NOTHING is more important in a database than integrity." ESquared

 

[BobRodes]

<shotgun
Interestingly, the term comes from the old Wells Fargo coaches. A fellow would ride up with the horse handler, and carry a shotgun. The person who did that was said to be "riding shotgun.

 

[razalas]

shoot the gun" reminds me of a dear friend who emigrated from Peru. Claims it took many months before he figured out why his colleagues gave him strange looks whenever he asked them to "run me over" (i.e."run down") with the details of whatever project they were working on.

Code what you mean,
and mean what you code!
But by all means post your code!

Razalas

 

[Michael52x]

Im not a very good "putter" so I dont golf.
But I put myself ahead of any prepositions that I may dangle in front of anything.
"I'd like to put something in your hand, my dear"
"Is there anything you would like to have put anywhere?"
No, I should stop, really. ;}

"Impatience will reward you with dissatisfaction" RMS Cosmics'97

 

[BobRodes]

<"run me over"

Very funny. Run has to be one of the most confusing words in our language for foreigners, and whether a particular phrasal verb in a particular context is transitive or intransitive, and which one to use, has to be part of the worst of it. I can see where the difference between "run me over the steps" and "run over the steps for me" would seem very subtle to a foreigner.

 

[ESquared]

Phrasal verbs are very hard for foreigners. Consider how each of the following means something completely different.

[tt]letup let up setup set up take up uptake
letdown let down set down take down takedown[/tt]

Meaning even changes with context. "I can't believe you set me up like that" vs. "Ooooh, nice, set me up with some of that!"

It was a letdown when Leah let down her hair.

Set up the scene for the big takedown.
Is the setup completed so we can take down the robbers?

I am going to take up the oboe. Alcohol can increase the uptake of other drugs.

"Let me up!" cried Billy, "you've been tickling me with no letup!

 

[tcsbiz]

Why would I want to run over the steps? It's not good for my car's shock absorbers or suspension.

 

[CajunCenturion]

I think idioms are the source of confusion, whether they be phrasal verbs, nouns phrases, prepositional phrases, slang, or anything else. All of the previously mentioned verbs -- run, set, let, take -- are often used in idiomatic senses and I agree, they can be difficult for ESL folks.


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[SantaMufasa]

I recall an ESL buddy of mine that became very confused on his first date in the U.S. with an American girl. She told him "I think you are very handsome."

He looked down at his hands and wondered what she thought was wrong with them.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[ESquared]

CC,

True, not all the examples I gave were phrasal verbs. But they were all very similar: an apparent verb word + a preposition.

 

[CajunCenturion]

ESquared - I wasn't speaking to any post in particular.

I was merely offering that in my opinion grammatical parts of speech are not the source of confusion. It is my belief that if we were to focus on the parts of speech in trying to understand the confusion, then we'd miss the larger point. It's the use of idioms that lead to confusion and misunderstanding. Getting your idioms right is "a piece of pie".

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[BobRodes]

Interestingly, the word "run" has more definitions than any other in the English language. Context hog! I'm thinking about the differences between "run over the steps involved" and "run through the steps involved". The first gives a more casual flavor than the second.

 

[CajunCenturion]

Even more definitions than "set"?

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[AnotherHiggins]

From

http://puzzles.about.com/library/weekly/blmosdef.htm"

The word SET has the most definitions of any word in the English language. SET has 464 definitions in the Oxford English Dictionary. Here's how the others stack up:
RUN - 396 (defs.)
GO - 368
TAKE - 343
STAND - 334
GET - 289
TURN - 288
PUT - 268
FALL - 264
STRIKE - 250



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[tab][red]The plural of anecdote is not data[/red]

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[BobRodes]

<Even more definitions than "set"?

Interestingly, yes. I didn't realize that set had as many definitions as it does, but had been told in school that run takes the honors. So, I went and counted the ones in thefreedictionary.com. Set has 129 definitions there, run has 194.