Jeeper

I do.

Formal or informal I would never write 'myself and the wife'.....it just wouldn't come out of my brain like that.

I'm a grammer police as well.....and brits....stop saying "I was sat at the ...." it's "I was sitting at the...."

:-s

Millhouse

It is interesting. Whilst I agree that the phrase 'myself and the wife' would not come out of my brain either, it does not in anyway bother me when I do see it.

I'm told that schools these days are focusing on content rather than grammar. I can see a huge benefit in that - although I accept there is a limit to how much you can butcher the language before it makes no sense. (busybee is an exception to this rule as that mess of words is never acceptable!)

The reason I guess it annoys me is that the grammar police are so busy trying to get one up on each other is that they forget that people bring different things to life. This guy can play music and has the patience to teach, I can do neither. My English is awful, but my maths is world class - we are all different.

i-like-tea

ok

Jeeper

I don't think 'we' forget about what a person brings to the proverbial table......but language is used for communcation and to start a written piece with english like that puts people off (and gives a poor impression - esp. from an english teacher).....which therefore lessens your chances of communicating effectively to your audience.


It's so much nicer to read well written text...and easier to respond positively to it (which is why I don't agree that content alone is important....the way it's presented is also important....much like how I dress at work has no effect on my ability to do my job....but it does affect how people perceive me).
BusyBee2's text is a great case in point.

Millhouse

I guess my problem is that I spend much of my day reading legal agreements - people get so tied up on grammer that they often miss the much larger commercial points which isn't good.

I like the challenge of BB2!

Jeeper

So, for the purpose of my analogy, they will be the ones in the suits looking the business but couldn't pump gas to save themselves.

Millhouse

pretty much.

population

Harumph........

I cannot believe that this thread is constantly turning into a critique of my opening post. I asked for information on live music. To anyone who responded to that request, your help has been much appreciated.

"Myself and the wife" is quite a common thing to say informally in Hiberno-English. It ties in with "Mo chara agus mise/mise agus mo chara", my friend and I/me and my friend....

"Mise" translates literally as "me/myself" so it tends to creep into day to day language use. Go to a pub in a suburb of Dublin/Cork/Kerry etc and you will hear it quite often except "myself" tends to be interchangeable with "meself". I am Irish. I teach English. I would not speak in a brogue to students, nor would I teach them bad habits. However as I said earlier, there are structured lessons on informal language within the course content. I am not saying my opening post is what I would teach and I was kidding when I responded to Meow stating that I would hold up that post as a good example of informal language use. Quite clearly it isn't.

When I post on an internet forum I tend to write stream of consciousness rather than fastidiously mind my "p's" and "q's".

Cordially

population

Jeeper

Okey Dokey.

commander

you are right and apologies on behalf of the uber intellects on here..head up thier own assess or was that ass'es or asess or neither..who gives a ****..

good luck

Roadking

Ah see, now you are just exaggerating. It's not constantly turning into a critique... regularly, yes; constantly, no.