From the Free dictionary: Which led me to look up pled vs pleaded because I always thought it was "pled guilty" but then for years I've only heard "pleaded guilty" and I find it bizarre that the norm in my head seemed to change. If it was recent, I'd chalk it up to my aging brain. But I began noticing pleaded many years ago. I don't know what happened, my brain or common usage. The dictionary has this note on pleaded vs pled: "Outside of legal contexts" suggests 'pled guilty' would be common within legal contexts. Pled guilty still sounds right to my ear and pleaded guilty doesn't but I only hear pleaded guilty from other people.
I always choose my words given the context -- whatever sounds better. I usually write Lit my cigarette over lighted because lit sounds punchier, quicker. Lighted sounds like something you do that takes time - I lighted grannies ninety seven birthday candles most of which pooled out before I finished.
A kind of syntactic onomatopoeia, yes? I'm stretching the meaning of that word fearfully, but... yeah. Write it the way it feels.
Yes, exactly! That way even if it's 'wrong' it bluffs it enough to sound right. I'm big on short cuts.
For my whole life 'Good on you' has been the default, unless one aims for sarcastic apathy. If anyone actually said 'Good for you' sincerely, they'd subsequently have to explain that they were indeed being sincere. 'Good on you' is accepted to the point that just 'Onya' is perfectly understood: the type of thing that would be shouted to a sportsperson who scores a goal. It's not just for self-benefitting actions though; anything positive (e.g. self-sacrifice - 'Good for you' wouldn't really make sense). It's such an entrenched part of my lexicon that I've never thought about where it came from, but maybe it's like '(I wish) good (up)on you'. Thread at large: I'm fine with 'different to'. I read it like 'different compared to', where the middle word is omitted for redundancy. Other than that, I agree with the general sentiment. I'd say more, but you guys have whone enough for me too ETA: I don't think I've ever heard lighted instead of lit. Meaning 'set fire to', yeah?
I feel like "good on ya" is an Australianism that got transplanted... are you Australian? (I can't imagine anyone in Canada yelling "Onya" to an athlete and expecting to be understood. Well, nobody but a visiting Australian, maybe.)
I've certainly heard 'good on ya' used here in Scotland. 'Good for you' is either incredibly sincere and specific ...you've just been telling your best friend how you finally achieved something difficult and their response is positive and encouraging ...ORrrrr ...it's a terribly sarcastic remark to put somebody in their place, if they start getting above themselves. 'Good on ya' seems to be the generic approval phrase, although I've also heard THAT applied sarcastically as well.
Oh, people use "Good on ya" now in Canada, too. But to my ear they tend to sound a bit affected, like if they'd said "G'day, mate!" There's a bit of irony when some people use it, a bit of conscious cuteness in others. I agree that "good for you" totally depends on the tone.
"Anymore I shop at Walmart" is just wrong. I don't know anyone who would accept that. That's not what anymore means. But anymore I think is fine with being positive. "I'm not in pain anymore". That makes sense. But "anymore" doesn't fit into the same sentence structure as "nowadays". Who does that?
Well, I can attest it's an Australian way to pronounce that. Especially in the rural areas, where the accent is more pronounced.
By positive or negative, I don't mean emotionally, I mean syntactically. Your sentence is also syntactically negative. There was pain (positive presence) and now there is not (negative presence).
One word that I flip out over is 'pronounciation' which I hear said commonly. No one seems to actually say pronunciation.
That must be a Brit thing. You don't hear people say pronounciation here in the U.S. We say pronunciation with all the schwas exactly where they belong. Not long ago I heard the U.K. pronunciation for the ceramic appliance found only in gent's lavatories. In the U.S. it's pronounced yer-ih-null. In the U.K. it's pronounced yer-eye-null. I don't know why, but that pronunciation get's a smile out of me.
That is correct, Wreybies. There are often different stresses applied to words that are commonly employed on both sides of the pond. 'Produce' is a good example. In the US, it is 'Pro' (as in dough) 'duce.' In the UK, it is 'Prod' (like with a stick) 'oos.'
I didn't know the Americans say prough-duce. That's interesting. Always fascinating to pick those differences on little things that are so ingrained.
As others have already mentioned, it's all in the tone of delivery. We tend to employ the kind of sardonic delivery you mention rather less in the U.S. than in other parts of Anglophonia, so the phrase "Good for you" is neutral on its own as regards just the wording and tone gives it direction. It's been explained to me that other statements like "Great!" or "Awesome!" or "Brilliant!" are employed in their ironic sense so often outside the U.S. that the ironic meaning is more the default than the flat meaning. In the U.S. the flat meanings still prevail* and tone is needed to deploy irony. *Though I guess if a USian is of a sarcastic nature, said person might disagree with my statement.
in a similar vein , all my life ive used a "I couldn't care less" as a more polite version of "I don't give a F***" but reading a lot of fiction by american authors I keep seeing characters saying "I could care less" in that context, which is strange ...
I'm not sure this is strictly true as it depends on the context - verb and noun. In the UK we use both pronunciations. "Where's the evidence? You can't produce [pro duce] it, can you?" "His market stall is great - fantastic produce [prod - oos]"
I think only the noun meaning of the word is what they are talking about. When it's a verb, it gets pronounced the same in the US as the UK.
I've heard quite a few people use it. It's a Southernism, I suppose, and I wouldn't use it in writing outside a Southern character's point of view because of that.
As an American with a British mother I notice a lot of different pronunciations. The MOST different probably being "Aluminium". "Tu" tends to come out as "Chu" with her. Yesterday was Chuesday. "Garage" was always another one. Plenty of others but those are the first to come to mind. And of course I teased her about it growing up being the little shit I was (still am)
I always notice that watching Gordon Ramsey shows and The Great British Baking Championship: Basil - US Baysil, UK Bahsil Risotto - US Risooto, UK Risahto On the GBBC I'm also always amused that they say "proving" instead of "proofing" to describe the process of giving dough time to rise.