ex-cort, v.
informant: Kathryn asked me to excort you to her cube.
interpretation: escort
12 October 2009
25 August 2009
glintch
glintch, n.
informant: "Now I'm concerned about my bookkeeping software. What if they put another glintch in it?"
interpretation: glitch
informant: "Now I'm concerned about my bookkeeping software. What if they put another glintch in it?"
interpretation: glitch
19 August 2009
kalumative
ka-lum-a-tive, n.
informant: "It's a kalumative of the items."
informant: "It can't be just a 1000 items. It needs to be a kalumative of stuff because we need to use the budget from the previous physical year."
interpretation: cumulative
conflated with: kahlua, cumulative
informant: "It's a kalumative of the items."
informant: "It can't be just a 1000 items. It needs to be a kalumative of stuff because we need to use the budget from the previous physical year."
interpretation: cumulative
conflated with: kahlua, cumulative
04 June 2009
20 May 2009
tutorial
tu-tor-i-al, adj.
co-worker: "Sometimes he hits people."
informant: "He is tutorial!"
interpretation: territorial
conflated with: tutorial
co-worker: "Sometimes he hits people."
informant: "He is tutorial!"
interpretation: territorial
conflated with: tutorial
11 March 2009
stemina
stem-i-na, n.
visitor: "So you don't have any problems with your muscles or feet when you walk that fast?"
informant: "I've built my stemina up to that. I used to have no stemina or no nothing."
interpretation: stamina
conflated with: stem, stamina
visitor: "So you don't have any problems with your muscles or feet when you walk that fast?"
informant: "I've built my stemina up to that. I used to have no stemina or no nothing."
interpretation: stamina
conflated with: stem, stamina
16 February 2009
metriculous
me-tric-u-lous, adj.
informant: "I try to be very metriculous when it comes to people's pay."
interpretations: meticulous
conflated with: meticulous and possibly trinkle (see previous blog entry)
informant: "I try to be very metriculous when it comes to people's pay."
interpretations: meticulous
conflated with: meticulous and possibly trinkle (see previous blog entry)
12 February 2009
crumblet
crumb-let, n.
informant: "I love these crumblets."
co-worker: "You mean crumpets?"
informant: "Oh, yeah. That's what they're called. Anyway I love crumblets!"
interpretation: crumpet
conflated with: crumpet, crumb, gauntlet
See also:
informant: "I love these crumblets."
co-worker: "You mean crumpets?"
informant: "Oh, yeah. That's what they're called. Anyway I love crumblets!"
interpretation: crumpet
conflated with: crumpet, crumb, gauntlet
See also:
- Urban Dictionary's definition: Based on the informant's usage, this definition does not fit the context of the sentence.
- Crumblet.com has free games
04 February 2009
rambunctuous
ram-bunc-tu-ous, adj.
co-worker: "They can't just be coming in here and grabbing things off our shelves!"
informant: "Well, you know how they get all rambunctuous when they come in here."
interpretation: rambunctious
See also
co-worker: "They can't just be coming in here and grabbing things off our shelves!"
informant: "Well, you know how they get all rambunctuous when they come in here."
interpretation: rambunctious
See also
- A Google search returns rambunctuous as a common misspelling, not as a common mispronunciation.
09 January 2009
enstore
en-store, v.
informant: "My daughter is going to have someone enstore the garage door opener."
Interpretation: install
Conflated with restore, instore, enstore
See also
informant: "My daughter is going to have someone enstore the garage door opener."
Interpretation: install
Conflated with restore, instore, enstore
See also
trinkle
trin-kle, v.
informant: "We got a new mop. I'm not sure how to use it so I'm going to have my husband trinkle with it."
Interpretation: tinker
Conflated with tinkle, tinker, trinket
See also
informant: "We got a new mop. I'm not sure how to use it so I'm going to have my husband trinkle with it."
Interpretation: tinker
Conflated with tinkle, tinker, trinket
See also
- Google Search: trinkle
- Trinkle appears to be widely accepted as a surname
physical year
phys-i-cal year, n.
informant: "This past physical year we spent _____ from our budget."
someone: "So how does that compare to the previous fiscal year?"
informant: "The previous physical year..."
Interpretation: fiscal year
See also
someone: "So how does that compare to the previous fiscal year?"
informant: "The previous physical year..."
Interpretation: fiscal year
See also
extrominal
ex-trom-i-nal, adj.
(No context available. From a staff meeting on 12-11-2008.)
Interpretation: astronimical
See also
(No context available. From a staff meeting on 12-11-2008.)
Interpretation: astronimical
See also
Prologue
I started my job in this office not quite a year ago. The first person I made contact with here was the secretary - naturally so in any office setting. I did notice very quickly that her grammatical stylings were unorthodox and she chose unusual words in her speech. There have been many moments in my time here where I would correct a word for her thinking she may have conflated multiple words, but she would simply continue using that word the way she felt was correct - extremely confidently, I may add. Therefore, I have concluded that our secretary speaks in her own dialect of English, which we will refer to as MEG Vernacular.
A couple points of interest worth noting:
A couple points of interest worth noting:
- Although she uses an unusual vocabulary, all others seem to understand the ideas she tries to convey and can translate MEG Vernacular to the widely used US standard English with ease.
- What is perceived by others as hypercorrection of standard English is, in some cases, correct use of the English language by the secretary. What she intends to express, however, is not articulated as a direct result of her grammatical execution. The verbalized idea and the intended idea are then diametrically opposed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)