I know this is petty but... it's BOUGHT not BROUGHT!

BitterAndTwisted

Is Normal French related to Norman French at all?

neverdespairgirl

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Is Normal French related to Norman French at all?

Yes - they are closely related. Although normal French was at the time divided into two quite separate languages, and a large number of dialects, the Langue d'oc and the Langue d'oil. (I'm sure there's a big linguistic argument about that, though).

Normal French nicked a number of words from Latin, which were then absorbed by the Norman invaders into Norman French.

sonastin

spirit wrote: »

She also always says them people, them phones, them houses - you get the idea.
...
i blame the soaps since they seem to make the same errors.

moneybunny123 wrote: »

Another one that really annoys me, again it's local to Stoke-on-Trent, is people that say "his self" instead of "himself". For example, "He's only got his self to blame". Grrrr....it makes me mad. Another common one that Stokies say is "I aren't..." instead of "I'm not...."

To me these are examples of local dialect rather than ignorant mistakes. Similarly "will you borrow me xxx" - definitely dialect from an area round my neck of the woods. Soaps use it because that's how real people speak.

Outside formal communications, I think dialect is important. It is a big part of the character of an area and stops the whole country morphing into one big homogenous indistinct place. My boyf on the other hand can't stand dialect - perhaps moving from Hampshire to Lancashire isn't such a good idea for him

DVardysShadow

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

Yes - they are closely related. Although normal French was at the time divided into two quite separate languages, and a large number of dialects, the Langue d'oc and the Langue d'oil. (I'm sure there's a big linguistic argument about that, though).

Normal French nicked a number of words from Latin, which were then absorbed by the Norman invaders into Norman French.

Thanks for that. In under 20 minutes from when B&T posted you have established yourself as an expert in a question which many lesser minds would dismiss as a mere typo. Before you go, would you clarify for us the distinction between normal wisdom and Norman Wisdom?

Nixxx

You was..You were
We was...We were
They was...They were

:mad:

Mind_the_Gap

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

One of the verb / noun differences.

A licence, to license

An advice, to advise

A practice, to practise

I don't think you can have an advice, surely? Isn't it a non-countable noun? So, some advice.

rodent

Mind_the_Gap wrote: »

I don't think you can have an advice, surely? Isn't it a non-countable noun? So, some advice.

Whatever advice it maybe - I have a feeling it will be given anyway


can't we just have "a bit of" advice ?

rodent

la_farfallina wrote: »

I before E except after C.

Although scientists would be inclined to disagree.

Unless scientists are referring to water at 0 degress or below then it is:

I before C before E :rotfl:;)

Mind_the_Gap

rodent wrote: »

Whatever advice it maybe - I have a feeling it will be given anyway


can't we just have "a bit of" advice ?

You can have a lot of it if you like! (Where would you like me to start?):D

You just can't have one of it. Hence the partitive, rather than the indefinite, article!

Re the rule : i before e except after c. It's not really very helpful, in practice. There are too many exceptions and they are always the ones you need to use. At the very least it should be modifed to say : i before e except after c, but (usually) only when the phoneme required involves an 'ee' sound. So it works in 'hygiene' and 'field' (although 'friend' is an exception, with its flat 'e' sound as in 'bed'), and after c, in words like 'receive' and 'ceiling'. But (unless modified) the rule isn't much use with words like 'rein' or 'freight'. And there are words like 'weir' which does have an 'ee' sound but isn't 'i before e'.

English spelling is a pig!

KiKi

Mind_the_Gap wrote: »

Re the rule : i before e except after c. It's not really very helpful, in practice. There are too many exceptions and they are always the ones you need to use.

It's not really a case of 'too many exceptions' - there are, in fact, MORE cases of 'cie' (923) than there are 'cei' (167). And then 2,606 which have 'ei' which don't come after 'c'. There are far more exceptions than the rule!

I don't believe it's taught any more, thankfully! (And, of course, that 'rule' has been somewhat diminished over the years; there are other versions but hardly anyone seems to know them.)

KiKi