Linguistic oddities

[hummingwolf]

Okay, we have now established that my problem concerning "concerning" as an adjective is not a problem shared by everyone. There is another grammatical issue which I have known for a long time is my issue and mine (apparently) alone, and that issue has to do with infinitives as the subjects of clauses.

See, here's the problem: For me, if an infinitive is compared to anything, it must be compared to another infinitive. I have no problem with, for example, "To love is to suffer," or "To love is to receive a glimpse of heaven." But if you were to say to me, "To love is the great Amulet that makes this world a garden," I would cringe and want to find a silent corner in which to weep piteously, even though Robert Louis Stevenson supposedly said it first.

Anybody else have an oddity like this in their dialect?


(Oh, that last sentence reminds me: I use singular they without apology or remorse.)

Comments

[lizjonesbooks.livejournal.com]

The wash needs done.

NOOOOOOOOO!!!
The wash needs TO BE done!!!! aaaaaugh!

(It's a Pittsburghism)

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Ha! How about "The wash needs doing?"

[lizjonesbooks.livejournal.com]

That would work. I wouldn't complain about that...

[darth-spacey.livejournal.com]

The problem is that using a gerund like "Loving is the great Amulet that makes this world a garden" could be read so easily as a poetic mangling of "The great Amulet (that makes this world a garden) is loving", i.e. a predicate about a loving, great Amulet, which is entirely wrong.

What is more, I think those sort of gerunds that are nomen actionis (and formally based on participles) are actually the newer (and therefore "wrong" by most measures used by people who complain about correctness) usage.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Yes, Darth, I understand that that syntax can be the best way of putting things. But it still makes me cringe and, occasionally, gnash my teeth. That's just the way it is.

Are there any little things like that in your dialect that you can think of? You know, things that other people use in speech or writing which make perfect sense in their dialects, but trigger an instinctive feeling of Wrongness in you--in defiance of all logic--when you hear or see them? Can you think of anything like that at all?



Teakettle is one word, you know. Teakettle teakettle teeeeeeeeeeeeeeakettle!

[polonius.livejournal.com]

Singular they is the great dividing line between people who just care about good writing and uptight grammar assholes. (I bet you can guess which side of the line I stand on.) English is riddled with ridiculous kludges, and singular they is, by its standards, pretty close to elegant. Anyone who says otherwise needs their head smacked.

*ahem*

Not that this annoys me, or anything.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Heh. I never really have understood people who think "s/he/it" or "zie" are reasonable, but refuse to use singular they because an English teacher complained about it once.

[polonius.livejournal.com]

And as far as dialect oddities go, the most glaring one in New York is "[I/We/They] don't know from —", although that one came into the language through the literal translation of a Yiddish phrase, so maybe it gets a pass. It drives me nuts, but I've caught myself using it on a number of occasions, because it is conveniently succinct.

New Zealand... embarrassingly, it's been so long since I was immersed in that dialect that I can't remember any more.

[hai-kah-uhk.livejournal.com]

I've discovered that when I write Capt. Hraith's dialogue using 'one' rather than the singular they, it is both amusing and strangely appropos.

That was the only thing I could think to say. The rest of this confuses me. I may be an impeccable spellchecker, but all of those grammary terms are unfamiliar to me.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Don't worry, you don't need to be able to throw around crazy language terms around here. darth_spacey is kind of a show-off. ;-)

[jennixen.livejournal.com]

For me, if an infinitive is compared to anything, it must be compared to another infinitive.

I agree, it sounds weird and wrong otherwise. :)

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Somebody agrees with me!

Of course, you're Swedish, which might make a difference. :-)

[jennixen.livejournal.com]

*lol*

I haven't thought of it...but it might. I think in Swedish there are also cases of infinitive and it just IS completely wrong to not use both of them...
Or it's just me being a complete linguistics geek! :D

[meretia]

For some reason Ohio prides itself on not having an accent or any major language oddities. We do get that "subject needs done" construction, and one doesn't go places, one goes "up to" or "down to" them, even if there is no north-south or elevation change involved.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

I've heard of other places where people pride themselves on not having an accent (a Chicagoan housemate was sure he was accent-free, as I recall). "X needs done" sounds odd enough to me, personally.