Words, language and change.

Words, language, change. I’m a lover of the first two and I understand that the third happens, though along with many people I’m not keen on it, and I’m especially averse to change for the sake of change alone.

In George Orwell’s 1984 he took a lot of care explaining how newspeak, a state controlled way of using language, could be used to control the minds of the populace, but even so, I feel that the populace is not always best placed to make their own language changes. Lately I’ve found myself asking “Can I get a cup of…” when I should blatantly be saying “May I have a cup of …” and even the awful extra use of the word ‘get’ to mean ‘understand’ as in “I don’t get what you are saying”.
And here I will point out you do indeed ‘get’ what I’m saying, because unless you are deaf the sound waves of my speech have reached your ears, it’s translating those sounds into meaning that you are struggling with.

The silly thing is that some words seem to move happily onto a new meaning without rousing my ire. I’m cool with wicked meaning good (and with cool meaning ….well, cool) I don’t mind brilliant no longer referring to light, or that fantastic no longer refers to fantasy. Even celebrity slips by, though I have never celebrated any of them.

But some things make me silently cry inside. I cannot stand silently by and listen to the use of ‘literally’ used to just add emphasis, where people are speaking metaphorically. As in “I literally died!” “I literally peed myself”

I don’t like the new trend of using perfectly fine nouns as verbs. When did athletes stop winning medals and begin ‘medalling’. This morning on Radio 4 a man referred to someone (presumably having been killed by an armed drone) as having been “droned by the Americans”. Did this all start with Google and Instagram and Facebook? Is the internet to blame (do ‘inbox me’ to let me know).

Top of my current loathe list, however, are the phrases “me time” which in reality means, some time to do what I want to do, and sounds both pretentious and selfish simultaneously in my opinion. And the frankly horrendous “hack” specifically (but not restricted to) “Life Hack”. Hack, even in computer speak means to break something, to chop and damage. What on earth is a Life Hack anyway? Usually the word hack is replacing the perfectly serviceable word “idea”. So here’s a hack for you. Speak English, and people that also speak English will then be able to understand you without resorting to looking up your words and phrases on an online urban dictionary.

Much love
Grumpy TM

PS do add any of your own pet hates in the comments below.

Rosetta Stone - Learning French at home

Back in March DD and I were lucky to be invited to review Rosetta Stone's language course for a few months. As DD is learning French for GCSE we opted for that but they have a vast language selection! (24 languages - I just checked)

I was impressed from the start. I had no idea what it would be like, and my own experience of learning another language was limited to French at school, and Spanish on holiday. I had found the informal setting of a holiday much more conducive to learning! (the beer probably helped, they don't allow beer at school)

Right from the beginning Rosetta teaches you in the language you are learning. There is no translation. The teaching follows the way a child learns; first we are shown pictures of 'things' and the word is clearly spoken, after a few repetitions and when you can quickly recognise and click the correct picture then verbs are added, so we see a cup, a dog, a house, then we see people drinking from a cup, after a while we see the people are not all the same, the sentence is building, a boy is drinking from a cup, a girl is drinking from a cup and so on. So you feel like you are playing a game, matching spoken phrases to pictures and the complexity is building but slowly ..well at your speed because of course Rosetta can measure your score, and time your reactions.

I enjoyed it and after a few moans and teen style grumbles so did DD. Amazing how quickly you find yourself reacting to the pictures, not really translating the words into English, just instinctively knowing what they mean.

And then there is the speaking aspect. You can speak into the microphone and the software listens and corrects your pronunciation. This was ideal for us! We are both way too shy to speak to a real person! (which is a shame as the online version has the option to speak to native speakers of your language! Proper French people to chat to if only we were brave enough) So DD could listen, learn, repeat and then start to actually say what she saw.

The learning isn't super fast but what you learn does seem to stay put, because you are really learning not just remembering or translating in your head.

I'm so impressed I think we will be buying the CD version for the family.

Because there are two options to buy Rosetta Stone depending on what you need. See here for details, but one is online for a year and includes the opportunity to speak to people and other extras like apps and games, the CD is a set price, but you miss some of the extras.

The full online version also includes apps for the ipad, which are slick and easy to use and of course as it's online it collates all the scores etc, so you can switch back and forth and keep your place. And fun games, though the actual learning is such fun it's all like a game. I think it would be suitable for the whole family!

At the moment there is a special offer on - buy the CD for £199 (saving £100 on the usual price) maybe a family treat for the summer holidays? Or a father's day gift? It is certainly worth the investment in my opinion. And you can add up to 5 people, so most families could share a course (you need separate accounts as the course tracks your progress and you set the voice recognition for specific people). Much more tailored to you than a group lesson and with the option to speak to people if you wish or just learn on your own until you are more confident. And it's actually fun!

You can try a demo on the site to see what I mean.

I'll leave the last word to DD, who says  "I like it because it's just easy to learn and use."

Disclaimer - I was able to use Rosetta Stone for 3 months for free for the purpose of reviewing it. The thoughts in the blog post (especially the bit about beer) are my own

We live in probing times

I know. I'm obsessed. But the news media (at least on line, I don't buy any papers but I bet they are similar) have a new word and damn are they going to use it. I feel I need to buy them a thesaurus.

Lately there have been many horrible stories from the past (and present) uncovered by journalists and others and in many cases the government or another body has started to investigate the incident, to carry out an inquiry, to question, to research, to quiz, to study, to scrutinize....to PROBE! 

Yes gentle reader probing, once the plaything of aliens, has become the new buzzword in news-speak.

Especially appalling examples link the probing to child abuse, but probing is taking place all over the web, at all times of the day and night. You are never safe from THE PROBE!

India Launches Probe against Wal-Mart

CIA launches probe into Petraeus scandal 

FDA probe seeks links to energy drinks and deaths 

British Regulator Probes Controversial BBC Report

Dave Lee Travis arrested by police probing Jimmy Savile sex abuse claims

and on, and on, and on.....thousands of hits on Google news just as a start.

So here Journalists, this is for you, a handy link 

to THESAURUS.COM

You stop saying 'probe' from today, and we can all move on as though this unpleasant thing never happened.