Whatever Happened To "very"?

C

Colin Phillips

At the Start
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
Messages
13,268
Location
Talbot Green
Perhaps I watch and listen to too much sports broadcasting.

It seems to me that "very" a very robust little word in its prime seems to be unable to stand on its own these days.

Footballers are never very good thses days.........they are.... very, very good.

Teams never play very well..............they play...... ever so well

Even the negative seems to be disappearing, a horse is never......... not very big.......it is now not overly big.

Very sad, very R.I.P.
 
Yes, there's an apparent desire to use any other descriptive, such as 'outstanding', 'stunning', 'fantastic', 'terrific', 'marvellous', and so on, rather than just say 'that was a very good performance by SONOVAFUSHI today'. Performances in particular are 'sparkling', 'highly creditable', 'extremely promising', and so on. I think you've got a, er, um, ahhh... very good point there, Colin! :D
 
:lol: Yes, at school we were told to avoid 'lazy English' like using 'very' where some more imaginative description could be made, not using 'nice', no slang, and so on. So now I like to use multisyllabic descriptives instead, which I find are very nice.
 
Even Steve "very interesting" Davies seems to have entered a decline
eek.gif
 
'have' has also gone missing. I understand that Police have not ruled out the possibility of these crimes being connected.

" Err, yeh, can I get a return to Waterloo please "

and

" Err, yeh, can I get a , err, cheese and tomato baguette please "

are just two examples which result in me going purple with rage in the queue behind ! Can you get a smack in the mush ?!!
 
'Have' does turn up for duty in all the wrong places, though, Uncle Goober - I regularly see it masquerading as 'has', as in 'the Jockey Club have', 'the committee have', etc. No, it 'have' not! They're group nouns, they take 'has', and I return ungrammatically-printed forms to their issuers with a full and free editing service. For the record, 'has' has formed a guerilla group, which now makes lightning attacks on 'as', as in, 'is that Orley wiv a haitch has in Arringay?' :angy:
 
Since moving down South i've also noticed the "very" little use of "thank you".

Opening doors for people used to result in a "thank you", I also do miss the days of the friendly hand gesture to say "thank you" when letting somebody pull out when driving.
 
'Have' has not only been snatched from its rightful place by 'get' but also by 'of' .

You could of told me , couldnt you of.
 
The misuse of "of" makes me cringe, every single time!! Drives me insane.

Craig - I'm intrigued at this impolite, rude part of the country you live in - I find that manners tend to be more widespread down south. I certainly don't have the problems you do - either here or at home!
 
It stands out a mile to me, for example shopping round Sainsbury's people just stretch across you wthout saying excuse me, also just bump/barge etc.

Driving down here is also an experience, not many waves to say thanks and more so, people always block you in and won't let you out!

Are you sure about the manners down south? London? Nobody says a word to each other.
 
Try coming to Slough for a day SL - if you get a 'thank you', 'wave from another driver' or an 'excuse me', it would be like a lottery win!
 
Well, considering I've 28 years experience of living in Berks/Surrey/Oxfordshire I don't think I'm mistaken, Craig! I've always found people very polite, not only waving in traffic but flashing too.

Hunneyb - well, Slough is a place apart! They don't call it Sluff for nothing....:lol:
 
99% of the public are thick and thats where the problem lies. Ever increasing levels of stupidity and mediocrity rewarded and praised by stupid people who have progressed through a stupid system to be in charge of the stupid.

Without doubt we are going back to the trees. I thought about calling my Primitive Rising horse ' Back To The Trees' but then I thought if he wins and people want to know how he was named I would have trouble explaining it . Huh?! Wha?
 
I'm with Craig - the manners down here are worse, in my view - especially in London. It's a part of the "rush, rush" culture - "please", "thank you" and "excuse me" are disappearing because nobody has time to say them ..
 
Can't say I find things the same then. Not that I ever go to London though, granted - but it's hardly the only place "down south"!!! We clearly go to completely different places then - try Berkshire or Oxfordshire for starters!
 
Slough is in Berkshire. Windsor's not all that great either. Or sorry 'Royal' Windsor as they like to call themselves.
 
I know it is - but it's still Sluff!! Hideous place - no offence, Hunneyb! Anyhow, I've never had any problems...
 
SL, i lived up north for 29 years so have good experience of both, plus have worked all over the south, it's not a "i hate the south" post as I really enjoy the countryside where I live now, just manners are lacking and even saying hello to a stranger is considered strange down here!
 
Well then, so far craig you've told us that we are all impolite, uncommunicative and racist. And that's about twenty-six million of us too!
 
Back
Top