Innovative Usage Thread

[Raphael]

I just stopped myself at the last moment from writing "potential" as "potentional".

[Man in Space]

Has anyone seen usage like present-years-old him's? Is it innovative or rather common?

That'd be weird for me.

That's weird for me too.

100% not weird to me—I occasionally use constructions like this when I’m referring to how I acted in past events (usually the subtext is there’s something contextually relevant).

[Travis B.]

That'd be weird for me.

That's weird for me too.

100% not weird to me—I occasionally use constructions like this when I’m referring to how I acted in past events (usually the subtext is there’s something contextually relevant).

I think we're referring to different things here. "Present-years-old me's" is perfectly okay to me. "Present-years-old him's" is not.

[Man in Space]

That's weird for me too.

100% not weird to me—I occasionally use constructions like this when I’m referring to how I acted in past events (usually the subtext is there’s something contextually relevant).

I think we're referring to different things here. "Present-years-old me's" is perfectly okay to me. "Present-years-old him's" is not.

You are correct; I failed to see the first reply and fixed on the hyperlink.

Still, though, even in something like “X-year-old him’s”, that wouldn’t seem strange to me at all.

[Richard W]

“it blew 14-year-old me’s mind,”

Has anyone seen usage like present-years-old him's? Is it innovative or rather common?

It’s been in my idiolect for decades.

[Raholeun]

I am interested in some specific styles of electronic music, and on related music videos on Youtube there will invariably be comments in French that serve to remind me that for exotic word formations, you need not travel to the lower Sepik basin. A favorite: Quelle dinguerie du lourd!! Un sacré gros live.

[bradrn]

I am interested in some specific styles of electronic music, and on related music videos on Youtube there will invariably be comments in French that serve to remind me that for exotic word formations, you need not travel to the lower Sepik basin. A favorite: Quelle dinguerie du lourd!! Un sacré gros live.

I know some French, but not enough to understand what’s unusual here…

[Ares Land]

Punctuation suffers a bit on youtube comments this may be easier to parse as quelle dinguerie, du lourd

As for what's unusual, I don't really notice it myself, but English-speaking learners of French often report on how difficult slang/familiar registers are.

[xxx]

They're just not used to the community usages of French,
here every word is inappropriate in correct written French,
but the civilization of instant writing makes this niche ephemeral oral French
a written register in certain musical media...

[Linguoboy]

I know we've essentially embargoed variant English past tense forms from this thread, but still this sentence (from a badly-written local news article) leapt out at me:

Two men were facing murder charges after allegedly bounding, gagging and assaulting a man they met on a dating app, according to PEOPLE.

You have to wonder if the author is even aware that there is a verb "bind" from which the phrase "bound and gagged" originates.

[bradrn]

I know we've essentially embargoed variant English past tense forms from this thread, but still this sentence (from a badly-written local news article) leapt out at me:

Two men were facing murder charges after allegedly bounding, gagging and assaulting a man they met on a dating app, according to PEOPLE.

You have to wonder if the author is even aware that there is a verb "bind" from which the phrase "bound and gagged" originates.

Maybe they jumped all over him?

[Travis B.]

I know we've essentially embargoed variant English past tense forms from this thread, but still this sentence (from a badly-written local news article) leapt out at me:

Two men were facing murder charges after allegedly bounding, gagging and assaulting a man they met on a dating app, according to PEOPLE.

You have to wonder if the author is even aware that there is a verb "bind" from which the phrase "bound and gagged" originates.

Maybe they jumped all over him?

Maybe that's why they're facing murder charges.

[Darren]

Heard two innovative ppls in speech today - 'litten' and 'fucken'. Exquisite.

[bradrn]

I know we've essentially embargoed variant English past tense forms from this thread, but still this sentence (from a badly-written local news article) leapt out at me:

Two men were facing murder charges after allegedly bounding, gagging and assaulting a man they met on a dating app, according to PEOPLE.

You have to wonder if the author is even aware that there is a verb "bind" from which the phrase "bound and gagged" originates.

Along similar lines to this, I just saw a headline concerning a ‘scaled-backed’ plan. (Curiously, the actual text has ‘scaled-back’.)

[Ryusenshi]

I caught myself saying piece of shits instead of pieces of shit. Has anyone heard that from native speakers?

[Travis B.]

I caught myself saying piece of shits instead of pieces of shit. Has anyone heard that from native speakers?

I haven't heard that, but I've heard the opposite many times, with non-native English-speakers, especially native speakers of Sinitic languages, failing to pluralize English nouns. Also, I have heard the same people often fail to conjugate English verbs for the indicative simple present third person singular.

[bradrn]

A fascinating one I’ve noticed from a younger family member: he very consistently says certainately for certainly (at least while talking to his friends). I think this must be by analogy with fortunately, definitely, desperately, etc.