Originally Posted by dc koop (Post 12140474)

"Happy holidays" Irritates the crap out of me

Originally Posted by dc koop (Post 12140474)

"Happy holidays" Irritates the crap out of me

Originally Posted by Rete (Post 12140326)

You are correct that the phrase is not I could care less, unless, of course, the speaker does care and is wishing that they didn't.

What is wrong about "reach out to"? It is not a phrase you might use now or in the future, but there is nothing incorrect in using it in place of the word "contact". Actually, there are many instances where "reach out to" is quite appropriate in my eyes and one would be to reach out to someone who is going through a period in their lives where they need emotional or physical support.

Yes, I agree with your horror at the misuse of pronouns.

Disagree with the "how are you". Normally, I would say "Hi Sam. How are you." I would not start off with "how are you". Then again, many areas of the country consider this a proper greeting. So its not yours. So don't say it unless you want to ask that question.

Why should you be embarrassed for your friend? So she used the adjective cute. Big deal. I would save the embarrassment for the people who use the word "like" before the start of each sentence or the ones who continually utter "awesome" and "cool".

It's a different country and actually a different form of the English language that you grew up with. Don't expect British English to be spoken here. I'm sure there are many people in the UK who mangle pronouns, phrases and words.

Originally Posted by ddsrph (Post 12140423)

Look on the bright side. It may have been even worse if you had moved to China.

Originally Posted by kins (Post 12140560)

Having lived here nearly 10 years, I find it's British English that grates. So many words and phrases just sound odd to me now - jumper, amongst, central reservation, lorry, bum bag, fairy cake, glandular fever, mobile phone, petrol, pistes.

I also find that people, especially children, speaking with English accents sound very affected to me now. (But not Scottish, Irish or Welsh, oddly.)

It's funny what you get used to.

Originally Posted by dc koop (Post 12140571)

Well I've lived here 40 years and English women now sound sexy to me. The somewhat nasal whine of the dollies on the US news channels has gotten a little raw lately.

Originally Posted by kins (Post 12140573)

To be fair, pretty much everything about US news channels is annoying :-)

Originally Posted by lansbury (Post 12140315)

In the end it will come down to getting used to blank expressions on peoples faces because they don't understand what you are saying, or start talking like a local.