For at least three things I can recall, people say “a” when “an” would be correct. Have you ever noticed that? For all I know this is largely a Southern thing, though it is present in at least one #1 pop hit of the ’70s by a group that contains no members from the South.
- Could I get a Amen?
- One of the 700 Amys I’m friends with and I have an ongoing joke about going to get “a ICEE,” and you have to say “ICEE” really Southern. Ever had one? I couldn’t swear I ever have. It always makes me think of K mart 30 years ago, with that vaguely art deco snack bar sign and that old popcorn smell. The whole store is kind of dimly lit in my memory, as well. Not dim, but definitely not the thousand-watts-per-square-inch approach they have today.
- “Thinkin’ of you’s workin’ up a appetite, lookin’ forward to a little afternoon delight”
I ought to write a story including a frequently-Amenning church, “Afternoon Delight,” and a ICEE.
I had to make this kind of light to balance out this morning. Saintseester started my day with an email including an example of someone using “flaunt” instead of “flout,” and that made me remember a recent time in which someone had used “phase” instead of “faze.” Makes a guy cranky.
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Are you saying you’ve never had A ICEEEE? ( I said it “real” southern style – the “a” sounds like “uh”) Target has a cherry frost flavor right now; it’s goooood.
I love ICEEEES. … ok going to write a post for tomorrow about them… you started a new trend.
Yeah, you got it, ‘seester. The “a” sounds like “uh” (schwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!) and the long I sound in ICEE is important. It’s almost like a short A.
I’m rather confident I’ve never consumed an ICEE. I’ve had a frozen drink like that before, but never in the iconic ICEE cup.
I enjoyed remembering that old K mart on McClellan Blvd. in Anniston. When I was growing up, the only other place around town that had that strong old popcorn smell was Sky City on 78 in Oxford. It got mostly wiped out in a tornado, and they rebuilt the Winn Dixie next to it, but I don’t think that Sky City ever came back.
I remember holding and considering Ted Nugent’s Intensities in 10 Cities in that Sky City. I bought Def Leppard’s High ‘n’ Dry there.
I think it may be a Southern thing. Around here, the gaff I notice most often is subject/verb agreement problems. “There’s a thousand reasons why we should pass this budget” or “politics have been my course of study for my entire graduate career.” Sometimes I think I’m the only one who notices…
We call ICEEs “slushies” around here, and you can get them only in convenience stores.
Slushies /= Icees. Not even close :-).
Okay, put that on the list of to do in Alabama. We are taking all the kids for uh Icee at Target. Unless I can find a trashy, dirty convenience store with them, for authenticity.
I are impressed by your germatical persimmonacity.
I had a professor in college who would correct anyone who said ” I’ll print that out.” or here’s a “print out” His little spectacles would start shaking on his nose and he’d patiently explain that “to print out” meant delete or stamp out. You don’t need the word “out” – its just a print. Then he said – if you “breathed in perfume” – you’d drown!! I have no idea why that’s stuck with me like superglue – but working at a design agency I hear “print out” all the time and have to bite my tongue to keep from correcting my bosses
I was watching the local news one night and noticed the graphic behind the talking head: Your Fired!
I also saw a sign over the water fountain at the front of the Madison Wal-Mart a couple of weeks ago: Water broke.
Makes one weep for the future.
What really gets to me lately is the demise of the adverb.
I do, however, hate using “data” as a plural, as is supposedly proper. “The data show …” just sounds so dumb to me.
My wife had MEGA cravings for ICEEs and slushies when she was pregnant with our son.
Please. None of this is as egregious as that most lowly of the low-class grammar flubs:
“I seen that.”
No. No, you haven’t. You couldn’t have. Because it doesn’t make any sense. Perhaps you’VE seen it, or you saw it, but you ain’t never done did seen it, ya hick.
Grr.