English is weird

3 years ago by Anonymouse to c/showerthoughts

I got hung up on contractions this morning regarding the word "you've". Normally, I'd say "you've got a problem", which expands to "you have got a problem", which isn't wrong, but I normally wouldn't say. Not contracting, I'd say "you have a problem", so then should I just say "you've a problem"? That sounds weird in my head. Is this just a US English problem?

guy 100 points 3 years ago

In the sentence "you have a problem", "have" is the main verb. When reduced to the clitic "'ve", it becomes a weak form and is only expected to be used as an auxiliary verb. These types of verbs must be followed by the main verb. "a" is not a verb. Thus, we insert "got".

If we do not insert "got", the stress in the sentence moves and it sounds overly affected.

I'm not too sure, but I think "be" ("is", "are") is the only verb that can be contracted and still remain a main verb. I'm not too sure why.

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reddig33 17 points 3 years ago

Permanently Deleted

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UndercoverGranny 10 points 3 years ago

I can't find the clitic.

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rhythmisaprancer 7 points 3 years ago

To add to this, "have got" is perfect tense. "You're a man" is different because "are" isn't an auxiliary verb here, it is just added to "you" as a contraction. That phrase would probably be an existential clause.

I miss World Wide Words!

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AnExerciseInFalling 39 points 3 years ago

English is weird. It can be understood through tough thorough thought, though

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jasondj 8 points 3 years ago

My god it’s a tongue twister for my internal monologue.

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Jhogenbaum 30 points 3 years ago

You've mail!

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Rhynoplaz 20 points 3 years ago

I've a solution!

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MorrisonMotel6 10 points 3 years ago

What's it?

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kamenlady 6 points 3 years ago

It seems that i'm. The solution's me.

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Sendpicsofsandwiches 19 points 3 years ago

"You've a problem" actually still works, but it's an older way of saying it

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crypticthree 10 points 3 years ago

Yeah, I've definitely heard Brits say similar phrases

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Transcendant 16 points 3 years ago

Yes, English is weird.

'Bough' and 'cough' are not pronounced the same. 'Bough' and 'bow' are pronounced the same. 'Knee' and 'Leigh' are pronounced the same. 'Neigh' and 'nay' are pronounced the same. 'Polish' (the nationality) and 'polish' (as in what you do to a metal object) are not pronounced the same. 'Tear' (as in to rip) and 'tear' (as in to cry) are spelled the same, but not pronounced the same. Other words which are spelled the same, but pronounced differently:

resume / resume present / present record / record close / close use / use live / live

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TeaHands 31 points 3 years ago

‘Bough’ and ‘bow’ are pronounced the same

Except, of course, when "bow" is pronounced "bow" instead.

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MisterMcBolt 8 points 3 years ago

I shot the boughs with my bow and then gave a bow to my beau!

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teft 4 points 3 years ago

The last one should be spelled beau if you mean your special guy.

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DirigibleProtein 4 points 3 years ago

Leigh put the Polish bough over his knee but couldn’t polish it. “What’s the use!” he coughed.

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HonoraryMancunian 4 points 3 years ago

'Knee' and 'Leigh' are pronounced the same.

Well they rhyme, but I wouldn't go as far as to say they're pronounced the same

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Transcendant 2 points 3 years ago

Leigh can be pronounced like 'Lee' or 'Lay'

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HonoraryMancunian 2 points 3 years ago

No I know that, but knee isn't pronounced like Lee :P

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Globulart 1 point 3 years ago

What does leigh pronounced lay mean...?

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Illecors 2 points 3 years ago

I've got all but the use/use one. What's the other usecase if one is "to consume"?

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frosty99c 3 points 3 years ago

It has utility = it has use

To consume = to use

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Illecors 2 points 3 years ago

Thanks @frosty99c@midwest.social and @MurrayL@lemmy.world!

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Transcendant 2 points 3 years ago

You can have a use for something, and you can also use something (first one is pronounced the same as the end of 'papoose', second one is pronounced the same as 'ooze')

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MurrayL 2 points 3 years ago

The noun 'use', as in 'this has a specific use'

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mick -2 points 3 years ago

What’s the use of giving you the answer when you can look it up on the internet?

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Illecors 4 points 3 years ago

To have a brief conversation. I can look everything up myself, but it's nice not being a basement dweller every now and then.

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mick 1 point 3 years ago

It was just my crass humor. I used the noun version of the word “use” because you said you couldn’t figure out how to use it.

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triclops6 13 points 3 years ago

You've a problem is proper English as well, albeit more often used in the UK than in NA, feel free to use it!

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answersplease77 4 points 3 years ago

'uve problm bruv?

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Stretch2m 13 points 3 years ago

Tom Scott has a great video on contractions.

https://youtu.be/CkZyZFa5qO0

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PipedLinkBot 1 point 3 years ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

https://piped.video/CkZyZFa5qO0

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captainlezbian 11 points 3 years ago

Yeah but that’s not English only. Try saying “de el” in Spanish and it sounds super wrong, for similar reasons. Sometimes contractions kill what they replace

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ElderWendigo 7 points 3 years ago

It depends on your emphasis. "You HAVE got a problem there," doesn't sound weird when you emphasize the have. You've a problem doesn't sound weird, just a bit British.

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Thorry84 7 points 3 years ago

Tom Scott recently did a video about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkZyZFa5qO0

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PipedLinkBot 5 points 3 years ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

https://www.piped.video/watch?v=CkZyZFa5qO0

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

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HikingVet 6 points 3 years ago

No, this is a problem with the language in general.

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intensely_human 3 points 3 years ago

You’ve got mail!

Goodbye!

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helmet91 3 points 3 years ago

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Bunnylux 3 points 3 years ago

I actually think that 'you have a problem's and 'you have got/you've got a problem' are subtely different in meaning. If someone has something, they may have had it all along. It sort of has an ongoing ontological quality. If someone has got something, it implies that they got it at some point in time. I think.

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CarlsIII 3 points 3 years ago

People do say that though.

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Lmaydev 3 points 3 years ago

It also has secret rules look up adjectives ordering and vowel ordering.

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RTRedreovic 2 points 3 years ago

English has quite many problems in a lot of components. It is not phonemic and is very complex. That is one of the main reasons I got interested in learning Esperanto. It is simple, phonemic and planned to be good.

Bonan tagon al ĉiuj esperantistoj ĉi tie.

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TeaHands 3 points 3 years ago

Saluton, mia amiko 👋

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lupec 2 points 3 years ago

It says a lot that I don't know a lick of Esperanto yet even without the emote I'd have known for sure what you were saying. Working as intended!

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TeaHands 4 points 3 years ago

Jes!

(That's Esperanto for "yes". It's pronounced "yes" 😄)

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DirigibleProtein 2 points 3 years ago

Saluton!

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senloke 1 point 3 years ago

Saluton, kiel vi?

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Anonymouse 2 points 3 years ago

Y'all crack me up with many of these comments!

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Horsey 1 point 3 years ago

Contractions are very regional and a product of spoken English which varies quite a lot from place to place. For example, I use contractions that I don’t see people around me using like: y’all (plural 2nd person pronoun that’s missing in official English speech; verbs are conjugated the same as 2nd person singular forms), shouldn’t’ve, gonna (going to/ going to want to), wanna (want to), that’re, then’ll, then’re etc.

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showerthoughts

@lemmy.world

login for more options

A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:

Rules

All posts must be showerthoughts
The entire showerthought must be in the title
No politics
- If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
- A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
Posts must be original/unique
Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS

If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.

Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.

go to feed...