Bad Grammar

It annoys me that younger people are losing the ability to verbally communicate in a clear fashion.

I frequently hear younger people in shop queues turning their customer orders into questions, which aren't questions to begin with:


"Can I get a latte without sugar please?"


This always annoys me. The person has asked the question if they could get the coffee, instead of correctly ordering the coffee. By rights, the assistant could have just replied, "Yes, you can." and done nothing else. (I live for the day when I witness this happening....!)

The correct order should have been:


"I would like a latte without sugar please."


Please don't use "Can I get" when ordering things. It's very weird turning orders into a question.

 

Yes. Correct. And it is a very polite way too.

 

"common usage" just means most of the people are either misinformed, wrong or ignorant.

Or all of the above.

 

Time for another common everyday grammatical annoyance....


Person1: "How are you today?"
Person2: "I'm doing good."


What does Person2 actually mean? That they're feeling well, fine or alright?
Or that they've been doing good deeds, like rescuing cats out of trees, helping old ladies cross the street, giving food and shelter to the homeless, or perhaps treating ill people with newly discovered medicines that they've invented??!

Unless you have actually been doing good deeds, the correct response by Person 2 should be:


Person1: "How are you today?"
Person2: "I'm well thankyou, How are you?"

 

It would also depend on what variant of Skywalker is being talked about. A single member of the Skywalker family, or the entire family line of Skywalker.

But as the film is not released until December, there can be no immediate answer to this mystery.

 

"How are you?" is just a greeting. It is not a literal question.
You should not reply so literally.


PersonA: "How are you?"
PersonB: "Well actually, (cough) I have car problems, my job sucks (sniff) and I have a contagious disease that you now have."


PersonA would feel very awkward (and afraid) by such a literal response.

 

"Hello" is a word that was invented in the 19th century as a Victorian greeting when receiving a telephone call. The word "Hello" did not actually exist before the invention of the telephone.

"Hello" is a slur of English-Germanic greeting words "Hallo!" or "Hullo!", which were originally used as a loud exclamation (or reactionary) word to gain attention from someone far away, such as when calling out to a distant friend, or when attempting to hire a horse-drawn taxi carriage ride.

"Hello!", "Hallo!" and "Hullo!" are very similar to the north European word "Hei!" (or "Hey!" in American English, as many European-Americans have north European ancestors who continued using "Hei!".).

"Hey!" (from "Hei!") is not a traditional English greeting, as its still used in England as a loud exclamation word to gain attention from someone distant. "Hey!" is the same as "Oi!". They are both used as attention or reaction words from when someone is very surpised and angered. Example: "Hey! (or Oi!) That's my car you're stealing, thief!"

Greeting someone in England with a "Hey!" can be seen as being overly aggressive and rude, as it has the same meaning as "Oi!".

"How do you do" is a formal greeting, which became contracted to "Howdy" ("How do you do") in the United States.

 

Another...

People who pronounce mischievous as "mis-cheev-eee-ous", which is wrong as there is no i after the v.
The correct pronunciation is "mis-chiff-ous".