How do we communicate?

English can be a strange language at times, perhaps because it derives from so many sources. Now, I like to think that I am reasonably proficient when it comes to English, but there are occasions where I am left puzzled.

Take this morning; we were doing a word puzzle and were left pondering on whether 'nuder' was an acceptable word. We consulted Chambers and discovered that it is perfectly allowable. This was what baffled me. Surely, being nude is a finite state, so how could a person (or anything else) be "more nude" than someone or something else?
 
Duck59 said:
English can be a strange language at times, perhaps because it derives from so many sources. Now, I like to think that I am reasonably proficient when it comes to English, but there are occasions where I am left puzzled.

Take this morning; we were doing a word puzzle and were left pondering on whether 'nuder' was an acceptable word. We consulted Chambers and discovered that it is perfectly allowable. This was what baffled me. Surely, being nude is a finite state, so how could a person (or anything else) be "more nude" than someone or something else?
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Maybe it's a variation of nudist - "He's a real nuder...he hates wearing clothes!"

Or maybe it can denote degrees of nudeness - "We're playing strip poker, and she's nuder <closer to being fully nude> than I am, so I'm winning!" Of course, I'd say "more nude," in that example, but who knows?

Or..."Don't forget to spay or nuder your pets!" - ok, that's reaching... :laugh:
 
All of which reminds me that there seems to be a vast number of people who are unable to cope with comparatives. I used to have a boss who used the phrase "more better" frequently (and without irony). I've often heard people on the TV and radio saying things like "more wider" or "more straighter" and such drivel.

Maybe they should try betterer and harderer.
 
I’m watching at the news on TV and there is an anchorman who I really find annoying; he just can’t articulate words when he talks. I got only half of the words he says, and the worst thing is that he also speaks quickly as if he cannot wait to finish and get rid of all. It’s such a physical annoyance every time.
Right now he has repeated twice the words “palazzo di giustizia” that sounded like “palo d’ gizia”.
But the most embarrassing thing is when he says “vaccini” that sounds like “vagini”.
Italian subtitles would be so useful
 
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MypinchofItaly said:
I’m watching at the news on TV and there is an anchorman who I really find annoying
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We have two local reporters whom we watch for entertainment as much as anything.

The first one, he has such a sad-sack expression, we can't help but laugh at his reports. He looks like he just found his wife in bed with his brother, he got fired, and his dog ran off, 30 seconds before on air.

It's particularly funny when he's reporting a happy story. His words might be saying, "Today is free ice cream for everyone day," but his face is saying, "We're all doooooomed! Doooooomed!" :laugh:

The other one, he's Mr. Joe Cool. He's got this crazy haircut, like shaved short on the sides but really long on the top, and then he over-gels it or whatever, so even when he's standing still, it looks like the breeze is blowing in his face, and his reporting style is to be clever with the double-meanings.

For example, last night, he reported that a local basketball stadium will be used for a mass vaccination site on Sunday, so his report was littered with things like, "In a facility that's used to hosting sports, a new team is taking the floor, and the shots they're giving won't earn three points...but they just might save your life."

Sometimes, he really stretches to make some kind of connection, and it's really funny when they don't quite make sense.
 
TastyReuben said:
I've typed and erased about six rude/funny things, but I'm just gonna stop myself right now :headshake:
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Yeah better to stop, I can perfectly image those rude/funny things.
I just can’t get why nobody says something to him about his way to talk. I mean, it’s really difficult to listen to him and not being annoyed shouting “ talk slowly and clear, for God’s Sake!”; he eats the words. He is a young anchorman, but he is working on TV, saying news, he should have been trained for this like all the other anchormen/anchorwomen.
 
The young anchorman’s back. I’m watching his TG (the more serious one will start in 20 mins) and I’m already nervous.... I’m begging “don’t say vaccini, don’t say vaccini”
Apart from this, I am still shocked at how nobody trained him about the articulation of words. He speaks to millions people, not to a small bunch of friends
 
MypinchofItaly said:
The young anchorman’s back. I’m watching his TG (the more serious one will start in 20 mins) and I’m already nervous.... I’m begging “don’t say vaccini, don’t say vaccini”
Apart from this, I am still shocked at how nobody trained him about the articulation of words. He speaks to people, not to a small bunch of friends
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Viewer 1: They're showing the queue for vaccines...why are there only men in it?

Viewer 2: Because that young anchorman is the one who announced it yesterday...and there's a woman.

:wink:
 
🤣 I’ve just taken a look on facebook on the page of this TG and someone has written re him “could you please take into serious consideration to write subtitles when this guy speaks? I better should understand Hungarian language rather than his Italian”.
 
MypinchofItaly said:
🤣 I’ve just taken a look on facebook on the page of this TG and someone has written re him “could you please take into serious consideration to write subtitles when this guy speaks? I better should understand Hungarian language rather than his Italian”.
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We have a local news anchor here who has turned years of mispronunciations and general airheadedness into a trademark of sorts.

They seem to make sure to include the word "poignant" in her broadcasts at least once a week, because she says it just like it's written, with a hard G and that middle N distinctly voiced, which makes her sound like Curly from The Three Stooges.

She also marveled at a story about the world's largest truffle dug up from the ground by saying something like, "...and to think, they found all that chocolate buried in the ground!" :laugh:
 
I am reposting here the question I asked a few days ago in another thread, namely:

Re Tea, there is way of saying I’ve learned which I like very much : “not my cup of tea”
Anyone knows where it comes from?

I am always very fascinated and interested in idioms/ways of saying and this is one of them. Where will it come from?
 
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