Monday, April 30, 2007

PEEVE

Okay, let's say you're at an all-day training that mentions a unique place name, like, say, Brisbane, Australia. It looks like Brizz-bayne, but all the presenters and many question-askers pronounce it correctly, Brizz-bin. Like, one hundred times. So WHY ON EARTH would you not notice this, and continue to mention great things about Brizz-bayne? I just don't get it.

Human babies learn by imitation. Shouldn't human adults do the same?

Also, "congratulations" surely does not have a D in it. I was shocked to see it spelled this way twice in one DAY while perusing flickr. People often shorten this word to "congrats" and it's clear that it is a T S sound at the end. So why the D?

Furthermore, it is a laundry CHUTE, not a laundry shoot. "Shoot" is a verb. You shoot photos, you shoot looks at naughty students, you might even shoot a deer if you were so inclined.You can shoot some dirty clothes down the laundry chute, if you like, as long as you call it the right homophone. A chute is where something slides down. Hence, the popular and fun board game, Chutes & Ladders. One goes up, one goes down.

Thank you, that is all for now.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Never heard of "Chutes and Ladders"...

However, "Snakes and Ladders" is another story! :)

Anonymous said...

Not to be nitpicky, but "shoot" can be a noun, too - like "The pea shoot is growing quickly" or "We didn't get anything during our shoot in the forest." Sorry - English teacher neuroses coming through here.

Nacho Lover said...

ah yes, thank you for that anon#2, i had forgotten about that meaning! i didn't bother checking dictionary.com, as it would sort of ruin my rant mojo. :) i just did now though, and it looks like there are several plant-related meanings of 'shoot' as well as some rowing and mining stuff. also, annoyingly, it lists a noun definition of shoot as "a chute." gah! that can't be right!