Defenders of our mother tongue often experience: the source of many spelling, grammar, and stylistic errors in everyday language use is that the speaker does not pay enough attention to the interpretation of his text.
But why does the speaker not care about all this? This is often neglected by the everyday speaker as well as the author of the writings of the media that have a strong influence on him. Obviously, out of forgetfulness, haste, or lack of knowledge. For whatever reason, in many cases, he no longer focuses on the fact that he can even be insulted with such things.
"Cold dinner" is "good"
It often happens that these language stumbling blocks result from breaking the rules of writing together or separately.
From behind, when reading a book review, among the characters considered essential in the work - in addition to the greengrocer and the mason brigade - the reader comes across: " roasted pig seller ". According to this, it is not enough that this salesman behaves inappropriately, has bad manners, speaks obscenely, i.e. is a pig, and what's more, as befits a horror film, he was even roasted... Fortunately, we immediately realize that this is not the case, but the spelling is wrong: the character mentioned in the French novel is fried a trader offering pig meat, i.e. roast pig seller .
We shake our heads reading this kind of statement: "The hospital a cold dinner , which the nurses serve between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m."; " cold food will be distributed to the refugees". or the refugees food that has become lukewarm or cold, but they usually eat it warm, but food prepared without baking or cooking, i.e. a cold dinner or cold food is served and distributed to them.
"I was recommended to a doctor I know, who is a neonatal physician " - I read the smile-inducing text on a forum. Does the person practice as an infant? It is true that treatment cannot be started early enough, but let's just say: a neonatologist , i.e. a specialist who treats newborns professionally, was recommended to the attention of the parent.
"How can we perceive events these days, are we living in reality or by an absurd playwright ?" - they ask the question on one of the cultural pages of the World Wide Web. Since it is not the writer who is absurd, but his play, this way of writing is better: are we living in reality or in the contemporary play of the writer of absurd dramas
According to a website, for example, making carved "pumpkin faces" for Halloween (an Anglo-Saxon holiday established in many countries) promises to be an entertaining pastime for already routine " pumpkin carvers " . What can come of it if "pumpkin faces" ('pumpkin' faces) become round due to the activities of "stupid carvers" ('stupid' molders)? Of course, in this case too, the fault is to be found "around the chalk": it is obvious that pumpkins are born here as a result of the work of pumpkin carvers .
"The weather has become quite cool, hot coffee is good Let's hope it's not from a cup, and not on the pavement... Because the meaning of written separately is good , e.g. this: 'approaches the earth strongly', or 'falls, pours, breaks' (the rain). A hot drink tastes good (i.e. it tastes good, it fills the consumer with a pleasant feeling - it warms up - the drinker) in the cold.
Probably no one uses the services of the " schizophrenic clinic ", people with schizophrenic disorder are accompanied by their family members the schizophrenic clinic .
It is not certain that interested parties will attack the advertiser who undertakes " manure packaging ": no one asks for lousy, lousy, wretched, useless work. Fertilizer application may be needed all the more.
"According to the newspaper, the parties are expected to discuss the upcoming negotiations," the media informs. They certainly do not coordinate their ideas while standing at the bottom of the door frame, i.e. they will not stand on the threshold during the discussion, but they will sit at the negotiating table to agree on the meeting that will soon occur, i.e. imminent .
I wonder where the "strict flight medical examination " is carried out? In the air? flying medical coordinator at work ? Sitting next to Lagerlöf's fairy-tale hero Nils Holgersson? There is no mention of these, but the person who wrote the name of flight medical examination and the flight medical coordinator
If a separate word relation (e.g. correspondence department, used car) receives a suffix that contributes to the whole, the prefix that would otherwise be written separately is written together in the new composition, and the suffix is connected to this suffix with a hyphen, regardless of the number of syllables (based on the so-called moving rule).
On an internet interface, they refer to " central heating installer ". This professional worker was not sent from the center of the institution, and it is not certain that he likes to feel in the center... He maintains and repairs the equipment that heats the rooms from a common boiler through pipelines, heaters and radiators, i.e. a central heating technician .
correspondence department head is among the employees . It is clear that we are not talking about a department head who professionally drafts letters and answers questions and ideas in writing, but the primary person responsible for the work of the correspondence department, i.e. the head of the correspondence department .
" Hazardous waste storage " - I read the inscription. That bin looks very tame, it hardly attacks passers-by, moreover it stands motionless in its place, it is obvious that the waste put in or to be thrown in is what can be harmful. That is why it is appropriate to write: hazardous waste storage .
And as one website reports: "Many used car dealers have professional cleaners". It is clear that they are not tired, jaded salesmen, but the problem is with their knowledge of spelling... So, used car dealers .
"They seized the handle of the mad ax"
A funny language error is also made by the language user who connects - or rather forces - expressions with incompatible (incompatible or opposite) figurative meanings.
" grabbed the handle of the mad ax and won the victory," says a press evaluation of a sports event. Probably, the speaker mixed up the phrase "the handle of the lost ax" (that is, the small consolation that remained from the lost whole) with the words "brings something back from the grave" (here: the match).
"The competitor successfully coped the waves ," he says in a sports broadcast. It can be replicated: the swimmer has climbed to the third step of the podium...
" turn your back on the rootlessness of not belonging anywhere with a document certifying Hungarian citizenship," we read in the media. The first half of this sentence could understandably sound like this: To be attached instead of belonging to nowhere ... Or: To fit in without (forgetting) rootlessness ...
"They drink the juice of a lack of capital and income . ” This sentence spoken on TV teaches me that today you can drink the juice of things that don't even exist...
" If you fall in love with a healthy diet , the patient excludes basic foods ," writes the constantly "in love" media. Diet as an object of "love" (similar to many other examples) is not only a mild use of words, but also an image disorder. Precisely: if he recognizes the health-preserving effect of weight loss , the patient excludes basic foods (and not basic foods!).
" A woman's scent is one of the cornerstones of an attractive appearance ." Fragrance as a support pillar... Fragrance pillar. Even poets would envy this metaphor.
" After finishing our work, on our way home, we were once again able to marvel at the pulsation of the city's airport, " the reporter informs the reader (relieved...). Throbbing airport? No, it's more of a weird fantasy. The author was obviously of the pulse of life .
" Poultry disease hit its head " - we heard on a radio program. Before deciphering this horrifying message (what lies on the ground, what jumps up?), it's better if we try the sabbatical wording: Poultry plague has broken out.
" The non-viable lineups slowly dropped off ," the media reports, with a double image confusion ("non-viable lineups" and "the lineups dropped off"). Unequivocally: unviable organizations have ceased to exist .
The home team " was able to taste atmosphere of the Champions League ". Without image disturbance: he could perceive his atmosphere .
"Nothing happened that smelled of a political color ," he said in a TV interview. What kind of smell does someone who perceives a "political color" smell with their nose?... - we ask quietly.
Finally, a real New Year's Eve (but originally intended to be serious) press sentence: " Drinking was under scrutiny ...". And an addendum: in a gastronomic article they mentioned " the essential accessories of drinking " ... Correcting the image confusion and the "linguistic confusion": (examined, studied) drinking habits accessories for drinking (or: essential accessories for drinking).
Author: Lajos Arany
