Pedantic speech and writing - a question

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SilverProteus
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22 Jul 2007, 11:15 am

Does anyone have a reasonable explaination for why this happens?



sinsboldly
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22 Jul 2007, 12:46 pm

I would like to know as well.
I have always had a 'British' accent since I was a child. As I was born and raised in Wichita,Kansas, in The States this really puzzled a lot of people. Me too.

I used to have people hear me speak "English Received" and British people asked me 'Oh! are you British?"

why does this happen? Is it a speach impediment that just sounds British?

Merle



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22 Jul 2007, 1:35 pm

Maybe it just has to do with wanting that clarity. I get really hung up if someone uses a wrong word at the beginning of the sentence, and hear nothing until they clear up what they meant by it. When I was 4 or 5, I used to read the pharmaceutical names on my grandfather's medication bottles. I used to enjoy this because it was just a question of pronunciation, there were no "in betweens". When reading a letter from somebody I get very frustrated because it often comes from only one side of a situation, or they use too much slang.

I know with my writing, I'm pretty sure it has to do with analyzing things. I'm often fairly careful about the way I word something, and edit things at least 10 times before they sound correct to me. Though it may not always be right, it still takes me forever to figure out how I *think* it should be, just to leave no questions about what I mean. I also have a very hard time figuring out where I stand when I am asked a question about my views, as I see none as wrong or right if it is a matter of opinion, so I often go into details of what other explanations could be for the same questions.


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Last edited by nobodyzdream on 22 Jul 2007, 1:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

faithfilly
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22 Jul 2007, 1:40 pm

nobodyzdream, I think you gave an excellent reasonable explanation (at least for me, since that's how I feel)!


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RadarJunkie
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22 Jul 2007, 2:24 pm

I agree, I think nobodyzdream has nailed it. My only problem is, I will labor and labor and labor (and labor) over a bit of writing, a written reply to someone, a small report, and try and try to get it exactly right, only to discover immediately after sending it or handing it in that I have rendered it inexact by some dyslexic slip or other. Misspelled words such as "right" instead of "write", inserted a word or phrase into the wrong spot in a sentence so that it is awkward or even indecipherable. I don't understand how I can crave exactitude this much, most of the time, and yet ultimately be unable to proofread well enough to deliver the perfection I sought to express.

You have no idea how much proofreading and revision went into the above paragraph.



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22 Jul 2007, 2:50 pm

SilverProteus wrote:
Does anyone have a reasonable explaination for why this happens?

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source
ped·ant /ˈpɛdnt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ped-nt] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun 1. a person who makes an excessive or inappropriate display of learning.
2. a person who overemphasizes rules or minor details.
3. a person who adheres rigidly to book knowledge without regard to common sense.
4. Obsolete. a schoolmaster.

i dont know about words, but I believe "pedantic" referred previously to people that acted pedagogically ... well...
In fact, I didn't know the exact meaning of this word, I used to believe it refered to people who looked for ean excessive corection at the use of words, something close to 1 above, but not exactlly it.
Probably most pedantic people are aspie, and the change of meaning from a professor like person to somebody who makes excessive displays of learning reflects the way we are seen.

As it was said above, we look for exactitude, we try to express ourselves at the right way (at least at our own language).
Also we are not afraid of being different from people around.


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22 Jul 2007, 4:07 pm

I was going to say the same thing myself. I HATE the way the english language has changed since I was a kid. It used to be somewhat precise, and my area aspired to try and speak properly. TODAY, it is FAR from precise, and some people aspire to speak IMPROPERLY!

I still remember being asked to speak english when I tried to say something about technology, and I had to be pretty circumlocutious to comply. Sometimes the level of detail ended up as sorely lacking. When I first spoke of RAM, for example, and people asked me why I didn't simply say memory at first. Well, RAM is computer memory, but computer memory isn't necessarily ram. I might as well refer to common house cats as feline animals. Cat implies house cat(Of course, it COULD be a lion), but a feline could be a LION, and there is no common implication!



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22 Jul 2007, 4:53 pm

It doesn't help when you have an English teacher like mine-she wants people to basically have the general idea of what new words mean, but I look at the ways it can be used... is it a noun or adjective, etc.-so if 2 words have similar meanings, she will allow it to be interchanged sometimes, and I often find myself having to bite my tongue, especially when people are questioning these on tests and getting to switch them around. I get where she is going with it and how if they have the basic idea, it's a good start, etc.... but it drives me absolutely insane to see an adjective and a noun, or a noun and a verb being able to be switched just because of similar meanings!! ! /rant

I love my English teacher... I really do, lol, I just have that one hang up that drives me nuts.


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0_equals_true
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22 Jul 2007, 5:06 pm

sinsboldly wrote:
I would like to know as well.
I have always had a 'British' accent since I was a child. As I was born and raised in Wichita,Kansas, in The States this really puzzled a lot of people. Me too.

I used to have people hear me speak "English Received" and British people asked me 'Oh! are you British?"

why does this happen? Is it a speach impediment that just sounds British?

Merle

This is interesting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_accent_syndrome
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3235934.stm



0_equals_true
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22 Jul 2007, 5:16 pm

I think for me I’m never really sure if I'm understood. It a bad habit. But I noticed stilted speech doesn't help improve meaning.

My writing skills have got worse in many ways. So I have a quite a set way of doing things. I then to go on a bit, because if I mention one thing in passing, I feel I have to explain and then it ends up a red herring.



sinsboldly
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22 Jul 2007, 5:59 pm

0_equals_true wrote:
sinsboldly wrote:
I would like to know as well.
I have always had a 'British' accent since I was a child. As I was born and raised in Wichita,Kansas, in The States this really puzzled a lot of people. Me too.

I used to have people hear me speak "English Received" and British people asked me 'Oh! are you British?"

why does this happen? Is it a speech impediment that just sounds British?

Merle

This is interesting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_accent_syndrome
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3235934.stm


Thank you so much! 0_equals_true. This explains so very much, I am much obliged to you for your quick research. I did lose much of the stilted accent as I matured, however when I get tired or my back pains me, I do go 'all British' again. This is much to ponder.

Merle



0_equals_true
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22 Jul 2007, 6:26 pm

sinsboldly wrote:
0_equals_true wrote:
sinsboldly wrote:
I would like to know as well.
I have always had a 'British' accent since I was a child. As I was born and raised in Wichita,Kansas, in The States this really puzzled a lot of people. Me too.

I used to have people hear me speak "English Received" and British people asked me 'Oh! are you British?"

why does this happen? Is it a speech impediment that just sounds British?

Merle

This is interesting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_accent_syndrome
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3235934.stm


Thank you so much! 0_equals_true. This explains so very much, I am much obliged to you for your quick research. I did lose much of the stilted accent as I matured, however when I get tired or my back pains me, I do go 'all British' again. This is much to ponder.

Merle

No problem. I heard about it before.



SilverProteus
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22 Jul 2007, 9:14 pm

RadarJunkie wrote:
You have no idea how much proofreading and revision went into the above paragraph.


LOL I think I have a pretty good idea :). I go back and re-read everything I've written several times before submitting a post, and still manage to overlook some spelling/typing and punctuation mistakes! Well, that's what the edit button is for, isn't it? :P



sinsboldly
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22 Jul 2007, 9:34 pm

SilverProteus wrote:
RadarJunkie wrote:
You have no idea how much proofreading and revision went into the above paragraph.


LOL I think I have a pretty good idea :). I go back and re-read everything I've written several times before submitting a post, and still manage to overlook some spelling/typing and punctuation mistakes! Well, that's what the edit button is for, isn't it? :P


I have a function on my Google toolbar that spell checks and I love it!


Merle



SilverProteus
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22 Jul 2007, 9:46 pm

sinsboldly wrote:

I have a function on my Google toolbar that spell checks and I love it!


I used to have the Google toolbar, but removed it because it would annoyingly keep blocking pop-ups that I actually wanted to pop up. I think I'll put it back though, it makes the life of an obsessive-compulsive a lot easier.



nobodyzdream
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22 Jul 2007, 10:31 pm

RadarJunkie wrote:
Misspelled words such as "right" instead of "write", inserted a word or phrase into the wrong spot in a sentence so that it is awkward or even indecipherable.


I do this also-it's sad how many notes I get back from my son's teacher correcting my wording.


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