There's a story of a British medical doctor who asked how bad a patient's condition was, and being told by an American nurse that it was 'quite' bad, assumed the patient wasn't too bad; whereas in fact, the nurse meant 'extremely' bad.
So 'quite' is a word which we use in different ways, but what others are there which we might not realise we're using wrong?
Not just the easy ones, like shorts and pants, and the trunk of a car.
Quite can mean very in English too, just depends how it is stressed in speech at least.
Quote: Griff @ May 24 2011, 10:51 AM BST*wrongly
Do you edit yourself as much when writing scripts, Griff? The number of times I've read a post by you, only to notice later that you've bowdlerised yourself.
Quote: Griff @ May 24 2011, 10:57 AM BSTWriting is rewriting.
We're talking about the BCG, though.
Okay writing is RTD rewriting
Quote: chipolata @ May 24 2011, 10:57 AM BSTWe're talking about the BCG, though.
I read that as BBC 
Quote: Marc P @ May 24 2011, 11:10 AM BSTOkay writing is RTD rewriting
I read that as BBC
I wondered why you were picking on poor RTD!
For years, I thought there was such a thing as burglary. It was not until I moved to the US that I discovered it's actually "burglarization". Boy was my face red in court.
And Americans can't handle the confusion that the words inflammable creates.
Beware, some of the 20 year old posters will come on in a minute to tell you that the American usage is actually standard English and has been since they can remember.
This thread has the potential to become confusing, given some of the enforced Anglicization (yeah, yeah) hard-coded into the forum.
Try g-o-t-t-e-n, for example.
Quote: Kevin Murphy @ May 24 2011, 11:38 AM BSTThis thread has the potential to become confusing, given some of the enforced Anglicization (yeah, yeah) hard-coded into the forum.
Try g-o-t-t-e-n, for example.
Gotten has always been English, not so much in common use agreed, but still grammatically correct I believe.
Quote: Griff @ May 24 2011, 11:40 AM BSTFortunately standard usage is not defined by 20-year-old posters but by the Oxford English Dictionary.
Doesn't help much on here. Take a look at the thread where I tried in vain to explain to Zoo and Scatterbrained Floozy and some others that 'Ew' was an American word and the British equivalent was Eurgh or urgh. They wouldn't have it.
I am delighted to see "innit" taking it's rightful place in the OED.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/09/neologism-thang-scrabble-abominations
Granted it's the Collin's dictionary but it's still a great THANG INNIT when new words enter the lexicon, like new GRRL friends.