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Bête noire - READERS’ FEEDBACK |
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Monday, 09 June 2008 |
Many thanks to a reader (name withheld) for the
following:
‘et autre’ is used incorrectly most of the time : des
poules, des canards et autres volatiles is correct but des
poules des lapins et autres oies is wrong. The same reader
also dislikes the barbarism ‘solutionner un problème’
(instead of résoudre un problème).
Oliver Taylor suggests ‘quasiment’, which is both
linguistically bogus and unnecessary but rather widely
used [instead of presque].
As for English, Oliver also bemoans the use of the
following: ‘majority’ (instead of ‘most’) with uncountable
nouns, ‘meltdown’ (with almost anything except nuclear
reactors where it belongs), ‘gridlock’ in contexts where no
grid exists, and ‘toothcomb’ in the expression ‘go over
something with a fine-tooth comb’.
Lionel Barrie decries the use of ‘I’m good’
(Americanism?) instead of ‘I’m well’ and amusingly
concludes: “Was it Mae West who said ‘When I’m good,
I’m very good and when I’m bad, I’m better’?”
Please email Richard Plazzotta with your linguistic
bêtes noires in English or French:
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