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"For all intensive purposes..."
- Thread starter El Güero
- Start date
I did not know that. Interesting how it is often a common language that divides us.
But, here's this-
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Here are a couple more words that somehow morphed into being accepted.
Snuck in place of sneaked
Dreamt in place of dreamed
Snuck in place of sneaked
Dreamt in place of dreamed
Dragged vs. drug
In all main varieties of English, dragged is the standard past tense and past participle of the verbdrag. Drug is a dialectal variant that appears in many areas of the U.S. Though drug is common in these areas and cannot be considered wrong, itmight be seen as out of place in more formal writing, where the traditional dragged is always the safer choice.
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In all main varieties of English, dragged is the standard past tense and past participle of the verbdrag. Drug is a dialectal variant that appears in many areas of the U.S. Though drug is common in these areas and cannot be considered wrong, itmight be seen as out of place in more formal writing, where the traditional dragged is always the safer choice.
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Snuck, at a cursory search, is US dialectal 19th century, arose out of analogy with struck (there might other irregular past forms, of uncontested acceptability, which are unetymological - I'm not an expert), and later spread to more general use.
Dreamt, on the other hand, first appears in Shakespeare and contemporary sources, and, while now less common even in British English, is not incorrect nor substandard there by any means. However, I've no clue as to its popularity in North America other than it's less common there, so you may be right in describing it as becoming more accepted in recent years - I just don't know.
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My dad used a strange word at times. "Holpen". It is an archaic form for the past tense of "help". As in, "He holpen me finish the job." I don't recall ever hearing anyone else use that word.
That one is in the King James Version, continuously attested since Old English times, has other Germanic cognates, and is super-cool!
holpen - Wiktionary
There is an old time saying around here that I don't know where it came from other than people said it was Pennsylvania Dutch. I am not sure.
I am going to "red" the table as in clear the dishes from the table or I am going to "red" up the room or "red" up a mess; meaning to clean up.
I am going to "red" the table as in clear the dishes from the table or I am going to "red" up the room or "red" up a mess; meaning to clean up.
In the examples you gave, is red a deliberate (or regional) mispronunciation of the word rid?
I don't know. My grandmothers, mother, and other relatives, as well as other people who live here, have said that since I was a little kid.
Another one is "jagger bushes" instead of "thorn bushes".
I have used this saying myself numerous times but it really makes no sense.
If fleas were so easy to shake off, why do we have to treat our pets for them?
