Oh, thanks! Yes, I know what you mean. You hear people say something incorrect so many times that finally you think that you're the only one who speaks incorrectly. For example people here say instead of  "Ich habe die Wäsche aufgehaengt" (I hanged the laundry) - "Ich habe die Wäsche aufgehangen." - which is awful!

Last edited by tobeornot221b (September 21, 2012 2:05 pm)

Yeah the I/me I always have to test in my mind before I say it (if I stop and do so). Sometimes it's mid-sentence and you just say it before you've thought about it and then realise it's wrong. I find it interesting that there's a line where Sherlock gets it wrong though, given the Belarus scene, you think he'd be pretty anal about correct grammar!

Some other things that drive me up the wall...
* Ending sentences with 'but' (eg It was pretty good, but)
* People saying aks instead of ask
* People saying bought instead of brought (or vice versa)
* Just generally wrong past-tense versions of words (colleague said writ instead of wrote the other day...ugh)

Wholocked wrote:

. I find it interesting that there's a line where Sherlock gets it wrong though, given the Belarus scene, you think he'd be pretty anal about correct grammar!

But back up here; in reality it is Benedict who has delivered the line, so either it has been deliberately written that way or Benedict wasn't on the ball that day. That is after Moffat & Gatiss weren't on the ball, and the rest of the production team.
That's why I suggest maybe they used it to sound 'posh'. I can't believe that line got past all those minds & ears without a second look.

Oh my God, yes! Or who use "learned" instead of "taught".

(For the record, I'm generally talking about native English speakers here - they should know better. Anyone who learns a second language is, as far as I'm concerned, welcome to speak in it however seems right to them. Kudos for being bilingual!)

Edit: I was going to add using "wasn't" instead of "weren't" and then realised I was just starting to list all the errors in the Belarus scene. So yeah, anyone who speaks like that guy *nod*

Last edited by Wholocked (September 22, 2012 11:44 am)

I agree about people who speak English as a second (or third, or fourth) language - making yourself understood is the important thing.  I say that to my students when they're learning French too.  Of course I teach them the proper way to speak and write, but the important thing is to communicate your message.  For native speakers, to me it just comes across as lazy to make some of these mistakes, and that irritates me.

Mattlocked wrote:

Wholocked wrote:

(For the record, I'm generally talking about native English speakers here - they should know better. Anyone who learns a second language is, as far as I'm concerned, welcome to speak in it however seems right to them. Kudos for being bilingual!)

Oh thank you. Soon I wouldn't have dared to post anything in English here anymore... 
"Teach" and "learn" - in German "lehren" and "lernen". Sometimes you can hear here (another tricky one  ): "Er hat mich das gelernt" (he learned me) instead of "gelehrt". Which sounds awful to me, but which, I admit, is a bit easier to mix then learn and teach. 

And a second one: mir and mich - in English both "me" if I'm not totally wrong. A quite common mistake here.

I agree with Wholocked. I have no issue with mistakes made by non-native speakers; I know what it's like to try to learn, speak, write, and think in another language--it's freaking exhausting! I used to work in a bank where 90% of my customers spoke only Spanish. I'd taken French in school, so I quickly had to learn how to communicate as I went along. I made a lot of mistakes and got teased a lot, but I was able to make myself understood. And the Spanish definitely comes in handy at the hospital now, so I'm glad I got thrown into the deep end, so to speak.

Anyway, I work with several Filipino nurses and, while all of them are fluent (you would have to be in order to pass the test to become a registered nurse in the States), they frequently mix pronouns. Eh...whatever, you know? I've read their charting, and their spelling and grammar tends to be far better than some of the native speakers I work with. Embarrassing, really.

Last edited by Banbha (September 23, 2012 1:11 am)