http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=1126796


in reply to Re: poll ideas quest 2015
in thread poll ideas quest 2015

  • Speak to/speak about
  • Speak with/speak to

    • Stand by for updates...

  • Try and/try to
  • Inside of/inside
  • PERL/Perl

    • More updates may come...

  • English/American (& if any Americans want to put up their own counter-suggestion, they're welcome)
  • English/British (I'm a Welshman & I'm sure there are other examples, like ...)
  • French/Belgian

    • Without precluding further updates, there's a lovely list at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1543975/Telegraphs-dictionary-of-annoying-phrases.html

    Regards,

    John Davies

    Replies are listed 'Best First'.
    Re^3: poll ideas quest 2015
    by chacham (Prior) on May 15, 2015 at 17:58 UTC

      Please give an example. I don't think i've heard the former, and the latter doesn't sound like it makes a difference.

      Of course, if i wasn't running out in a minute, i would likely take more time to understand. :)

    		[reply]

        "He will speak to the budget deficit" is a horrible neologism, thought by the perpetrator to mean "speak ABOUT".

        "I want to speak with you privately". No you don't. You speak with your mouth and larynx. Sometimes people speak with passion. But you speak TO a person or group of people.

        "doesn't sound like it makes a difference" - none of them do to people who abuse the language. But to those of us who try not to, it makes a difference.

        BTW, s/speak/talk/g is just the same in the blunders and corrections I've given.

        Regards,

        John Davies

    		[reply]
          I'm not a native speaker, but this "to" thing might come from speaking "to the point".
          As for speak/talk "with" someone, probably the speaker wants to create an impression of wanting a dialogue ("to discuss" comes to mind). Or - he is german :-)
    		[reply]

          For to/about, i'm not convinced, but it's a good point nonetheless. For with/to, a quick search found it to be a preference. The same seems to be true for "inside" and "inside of" (which sounds akin to "between" and "in between".) In the case of PERL/Perl, that seems specific to writing.

    		[reply]

    In Section Quests