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Today's grammar howler


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How about this one:

In demonstrating the latest voice-recognition software (VRS) at a conference, the sales representative said into the microphone:

This new display can recognize speech.

Smiling, she turned to face the audience, but her smile suddenly faded when the audience burst out laughing. Puzzled, she turned back to look at the projection on the wall behind her. The VRS's output read:

This nudist play can wreck a nice beach.

:D

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"The believe that America is the Great Satin".

The same student also referred to American foreign policy as "gun hoe".

Both of these are mistakes borne of foreign words -- Hebrew ("Satan") and Chinese ("gung ho") -- incorporated into English.

In the above-quoted (mis)use of "Satin", because of the context it isn't hard to deduce what was actually meant. Conversely, seeing/reading "satin" without such context would lead the typical English-speaking person to pronounce it "SÄ-tihn". Yet "Satan", the word actually meant in the above sentence is pronounced "SAY-ten". Go figure.

The student had probably never heard "gung ho" pronounced carefully enough to notice the "ng" ending of the first word. In light of the US of A's gun-mongering image (in the eyes of much of the rest of the world), it's no surprise that the student rendered "gung ho" as "gun hoe".

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One of my favourites from Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1LPA5YOND6TGD/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

Including such classics as:

"Spiers's eyes popped extraneously from their sockets, as his face turned from a deep red to a sickly purple."

"The lamp's glow was very weak compared to the blue glow emancipating from the basement."

"It infiltrated his lungs, filling them with a kind of innovativeness he had never felt before."

And many more... :D

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Both of these are mistakes borne of foreign words -- Hebrew ("Satan") and Chinese ("gung ho") -- incorporated into English.

...

The student had probably never heard "gung ho" pronounced carefully enough to notice the "ng" ending of the first word. In light of the US of A's gun-mongering image (in the eyes of much of the rest of the world), it's no surprise that the student rendered "gung ho" as "gun hoe".

Given that "gun" in Australian slang means "good" - e.g. "He's a gun welder." - I find the meaning difficult to decipher from the context. Does the writer truly believe that the US has an international reputation for farm implement use? What references does s/he cite?:confused:

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