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Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

A Way with Words, a radio show and podcast about language and linguistics.

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Is going gonan go? I don't wanna see it go!
nelgin
27 Posts
(Offline)
1
2013/07/12 - 10:53am

We all learned them in school...gonna, wanna, shoulda, coulda. In England we even used ain't (famously used in the "ain't got none" phrase).

 

Being a former member of Toastmasters, there's many-a-time I'd dinged someone for using gonna, wanna, and I strive not to use it myself but I've noticed the prolific bastardisation of going, want to, should have, etc. in children's programs. I even put a veto on Jake and Neverland Pirates because my son's language was getting terrible.

 

Even in professional adults, I'm hearing less and less usage of these words.

 

Are we getting to the stage of language evolution (or devolution maybe) where going and friends are 'gonna' be archaic terms?

Guest
2
2013/07/13 - 2:40am
Often there is an overlapping territory of the formal and the informal, where some usages will be seen differently (and disagreements reign).
 
Regarding the usages you are discussing though, I will take the position that there have never been rooms in the formal domain for them, and further, for having been so long-standing, such will be their status forever.  
 
But that is by no means to say that they are 'bad' usages- they can be 'good' in the informal domain. nelgin, if you veto entertainments that use them, I am sure Masterpiece Theater is out.

 

nelgin
27 Posts
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3
2013/07/17 - 12:58pm

I only veto's that show because of other language that was in use. It may be educational but it got my son walking around saying "Uhh?" to everything that was said. I want him to have a good start in life with proper language. I'm surprised at the proliferation of 'informal' language use on shows for kids his age. Maybe it's the British in me that wants him to talk properly.  

EmmettRedd
859 Posts
(Offline)
4
2013/07/17 - 1:53pm

nelgin said

I only veto's that show because of other language that was in use. It may be educational but it got my son walking around saying "Uhh?" to everything that was said. I want him to have a good start in life with proper language. I'm surprised at the proliferation of 'informal' language use on shows for kids his age. Maybe it's the British in me that wants him to talk properly.  

Nelgin, the American in me has similar trouble with Sesame Street and Cookie Monster, "Me like cookies." I think I detect a shift in using objects as subjects out in real life.

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