Comments on: Anti-anti-Americanismism

By: Best of Language Blog Roundup 2012 | Wordnik

Best of Language Blog Roundup 2012 | Wordnik — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 15:07:48 +0000

[...] September saw some (unnecessary, we thought) anti-Americanisms. But luckily, Stan Carey and Robert Lane Greene had a thing or two to say about [...]

By: Stan

Stan — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 19:28:56 +0000

Karen: No, it’s commonly used for things that are just generally attractive, typically small or childlike or sentimentally appealing. So baby animals and children are often called cute, and the word can also be applied to buttons and buns and noses and clothes and yes, houses.

By: the ridger

the ridger — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 01:14:32 +0000

Do British people really reserve “cute” for things they’re sexually attracted to? This causes me to worry about all the “cute house/flat” ads I’ve seen.

By: Nelida Kreer (@Nelida_Kreer)

Nelida Kreer (@Nelida_Kreer) — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 21:21:37 +0000

Second your motion, Claire! I’d be rather nice-day-ed than drop-deaded, any day of the week… All these so-called Americanisms are formulaic, and an expression of social interrelations, why ascribe any darker or deeper meaning to them than what they are meant to be, a corteous greeting.

By: This Week’s Language Blog Roundup: Banned Books Week, grammar wars, and more | Wordnik

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 14:04:34 +0000

[...] In British English versus American English, lexicographers galore explored Britishisms and the Britishization of American English, and Stan Carey discussed anti-anti-Americanism. [...]

By: Stan

Stan — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 08:17:45 +0000

Bill: I think one reason so many people object so strongly to like is the rather sudden increase in its use in several different ways. I don’t know if there’s any causal connection between its quotative use and what you call “the modern version of ‘uuuhhh’”, i.e., its use as a filler word or verbal tic. I’d be interested in finding out how the various modern uses developed.

By: Bill Stubblefield

Bill Stubblefield — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 20:07:19 +0000

I am an American–an old one. The use of the quotative “like” irritates me as well. Here is my theory (supported only by my musings): When I was a child fifty to sixty years ago, we would introduce a new play scenario by “Let’s play like….” The beat generation and the hippies adopted it in a slightly mutated form “Like, man…..” At this stage, the GenXers and NexGens have transformed it into the modern version of “uuuhhh.”