Language usage pet peeve

[SoTier]

The "crik" vs "creek"  thing is something that is endemic in WNY.  We don't even think of it, especially people who have never lived outside of the area.  Even if you've lived outside of WNY for several years and learned to say "creek", when you move back, it sneaks back into your speech because you hear it all the time.  When I lived in Nebraska and the Albany area for more than a decade, I said "creek" but "crik" came back into my everyday speech in a relatively short time.

 

Edited April 27 by SoTier

[Another Fan]

I do it sometimes as well but it always feels a little awkward to me when somebody asks how’s mom not how’s your mom when addressing someone about their mother.  

Edited April 27 by Another Fan

[Fleezoid]

I got a creek in my neck.

[WotAGuy]

Let me ax you something…

[Logic]

Basic misuse or misunderstanding of phrases is the one that always gets me.

For all intensive purposes.

Saying "in lieu of" instead of "in light of".

I once knew someone who thought prima donna was "pre-madonna".

But saying "I seen" instead of "I saw" is the one that seems most common and which might bother me the most. 

[Cash]

3 hours ago, Logic said:

Basic misuse or misunderstanding of phrases is the one that always gets me.

For all intensive purposes.

Saying "in lieu of" instead of "in light of".

I once knew someone who thought prima donna was "pre-madonna".

But saying "I seen" instead of "I saw" is the one that seems most common and which might bother me the most. 

Me too! She showed me an instagram post declaring that her cat would eventually become Madonna. It blew my mind!

[Augie]

8 minutes ago, Cash said:

Me too! She showed me an instagram post declaring that her cat would eventually become Madonna. It blew my mind!

 

Well……cat people.   🤷‍♂️

[ExiledInIllinois]

On 4/27/2024 at 5:37 AM, SoTier said:

The "crik" vs "creek"  thing is something that is endemic in WNY.  We don't even think of it, especially people who have never lived outside of the area.  Even if you've lived outside of WNY for several years and learned to say "creek", when you move back, it sneaks back into your speech because you hear it all the time.  When I lived in Nebraska and the Albany area for more than a decade, I said "creek" but "crik" came back into my everyday speech in a relatively short time.

 

Crick isn't just WNY. It's rural America.  Mark Twain used it in his writing. 

 

States That Refer to a Creek as a Crick:

In the United States, several states use the term “crick” to refer to a creek. This includes Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Wisconsin. In addition, some parts of Arkansas, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and West Virginia also call creeks “cricks”. The term is also common in other English-speaking countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia.

[Irv]

This topic is to funny.  Your making me laugh.  

[SoTier]

10 hours ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

Crick isn't just WNY. It's rural America.  Mark Twain used it in his writing. 

 

States That Refer to a Creek as a Crick:

In the United States, several states use the term “crick” to refer to a creek. This includes Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Wisconsin. In addition, some parts of Arkansas, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and West Virginia also call creeks “cricks”. The term is also common in other English-speaking countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia.

 

A lot of Appalachia (western PA, eastern KY and TN, western VA, NC and SC) were originally settled by Scotch Irish (Ulster Scots) immigrants in the late 18th and early 19th century who brought their version of English with them.  Conditions in Ireland were never good for either Catholic or Protestant lower classes, so there was a lot of emigration, which probably explains how "criks" are also found in the UK and Australia. 

 

Industrialization in the late 19th and early 20th century lured a lot of migrants out of Appalachia to the more prosperous large and small manufacturing towns in the Midwest and the Great Lakes.  The "Hillbilly Highway" refers to some of this out-migration to cities like Cincinnati, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and yes, Buffalo, after WW II for well paying jobs in the steel and automobile industries.   A lot of people in the Jamestown area have their roots in West Virginia because their grandparents or great grandparents came to work in the furniture factories that once dominated Jamestown's economy.

Edited May 1 by SoTier

[Greybeard]

On 4/21/2024 at 4:16 PM, SoTier said:

 

That's definitely a WNY, especially Southern Tier, thing.   I've heard people refer to the village of Silver Creek as Silver Crik.

 

One thing that I've noticed recently on tv is some actors seem to add an extra syllable to some words, most notably on words that end in ing.  Examples:

go-ing becomes go-ing-ga or com-ing becomes com-ing-ga. 

 

    I was going to type the same thing-ga.  I knew people in western NY that talked that way, even back in 70's.

 

   A crik is that thing you played around and in when you were a kid.  A creek is that thing that seems to flood once in a while, like Ellicott creek.

[Fleezoid]

Jacksonville Jagwires

[BarleyNY]

- Misuse of then/than. “Then” is sequential. I’m going to go to the store, then home. “Than” is comparative. I’d rather go to Wegman’s than Top’s. 

 

- WNY mispronunciation of words like elementary by pronouncing them with an emphasized -TARY instead of emphasizing “MEN” and ending with “tree”. My daughter picked up this habit and wife and I wince every time we hear her do it. 

 

- Misuse of “ironic” in place of “coincidental”. Ironic means “opposite of what was expected” not “happenstance”. 

[shrader]

7 hours ago, BarleyNY said:

- Misuse of then/than. “Then” is sequential. I’m going to go to the store, then home. “Than” is comparative. I’d rather go to Wegman’s than Top’s. 

 

- WNY mispronunciation of words like elementary by pronouncing them with an emphasized -TARY instead of emphasizing “MEN” and ending with “tree”. My daughter picked up this habit and wife and I wince every time we hear her do it. 

 

- Misuse of “ironic” in place of “coincidental”. Ironic means “opposite of what was expected” not “happenstance”. 

So it’s not like rain on your wedding day?

 

And I just did a quick skim through here. No one has mentioned “literally” yet?