Stop calling it a menage!

Thank you. I am often appalled and annoyed by the grammar, spelling and general slapdash ways of posting. I know that this is not a grammar or spelling forum, but surely posters take pride in their language and take a little time to read through their posts ?

I am an English speaking South African and the standard of English in this country is shocking, with even newspapers and TV news broadcasts revealing spelling and grammatical errors. However, for much of the population, English is not their home language. When I read postings on a forum where the majority of people post in English, presumably their home language, I expect to see a higher standard of English than that to which we are exposed here.
 
imr said:
I'm glad she did post...because it really annoys me when people use menage, especially estate agents and the like using it in pretentious brochures. IMO its a slightly pretentious word anyway and I don't really use it but if you are going to, use the right one....
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I can never remember remember which is which so err on the side of safety and always write arena in my sales particulars and valuations. It saves a whole heap of problems as the client thinks you are inviting him to a menage-a-trois!
 
Well I thought until now that menage was right, probably because it seems to be pronounced/spelled like that much more often than the correct way - in England at any rate. Given that English is a living language, it's just a matter of time before menage becomes correct :D.
Also, I quite like the association of menage with menagerie - an enclosure full of wild animals - frequently an accurate description of what goes in the school at my lot's yard - lol.
A manege can be translated as a merry-go-round too - the french original of the Magic roundabout was Le Manege Enchante (sorry, don't how to an e with either an acute or a grave accent :o)
 
Lol I am loving this 'light' post, personally when people call it a 'menage' I laugh and can't help thinking of the term 'menage a trois', must be my juvenile dirty mind!
 
diggerbez said:
i cannot believe that anyone cares enough to post this?? i have serious apostrophe OCD but i wouldn't come on here posting about it.... i think that its quite pretentious to harp on about things like this TBH... just because you are good at grammar doesn't give you a right to talk down to others.... :confused:
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You missed an apostrophe there DB ;):D

I'm impressed that this thread has made it to 4 pages TBH! Personally, I call it school or arena as I went to a spit and sawdust riding school from a young age and never could get my head around "manege"!
 
j1ffy said:
You missed an apostrophe there DB ;):D

I'm impressed that this thread has made it to 4 pages TBH! Personally, I call it school or arena as I went to a spit and sawdust riding school from a young age and never could get my head around "manege"!
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haha oh yes! :eek:
 
well, i tend to call it an arena, because that comes from the Latin, for 'sand'. ;) ;)
I hope that makes you happy, OP.
but sometimes I call it 'the school'. occasionally i slip up and call it the 'manege' (i try to manage my horse in the manege, never the 'menarge').
Do you get upset about non-U words too, about 'toilet' instead of lavatory or loo, 'serviette' instead of napkin, that sort of thing.
I bet Chinaman drives you crackers, because a chinaman is a left-hand bowler's googly... one should say 'a Chinese', obviously.
Of course, then we get into whether it is pretentious to call my trainer a "trainer", as opposed to an "instructor"...

gotta love the English language...
you might like these:


The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.--James D. Nicoll, 1990, in the Usenet group rec.arts.sf-lovers
and
there's an old saying, that the English language was a result of Norman men-at-arms trying to chat up Saxon barmaids, and no more legitimate than any other result thereof...
 
kerilli said:
well, i tend to call it an arena, because that comes from the Latin, for 'sand'. ;) ;)
I hope that makes you happy, OP.
but sometimes I call it 'the school'. occasionally i slip up and call it the 'manege' (i try to manage my horse in the manege, never the 'menarge').
Do you get upset about non-U words too, about 'toilet' instead of lavatory or loo, 'serviette' instead of napkin, that sort of thing.
I bet Chinaman drives you crackers, because a chinaman is a left-hand bowler's googly... one should say 'a Chinese', obviously.
Of course, then we get into whether it is pretentious to call my trainer a "trainer", as opposed to an "instructor"...

gotta love the English language...
you might like these:


The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.--James D. Nicoll, 1990, in the Usenet group rec.arts.sf-lovers
and
there's an old saying, that the English language was a result of Norman men-at-arms trying to chat up Saxon barmaids, and no more legitimate than any other result thereof...
Click to expand...

haha kerrili that's brilliant :D
 
kerilli said:
Do you get upset about non-U words too, about 'toilet' instead of lavatory or loo, 'serviette' instead of napkin, that sort of thing.
Click to expand...

Ah, but those words are correct, just not "acceptable in polite company". Or at least that's the case here, as there are "polite" words - slang and not - here that would not be considered so in other English speaking countries. To give the OP fair play, he/she was getting his/her knickers in a twist over incorrect usage, not impolite usage.

It does make me laugh though, as when people get horse terms wrong on television or in other media, everyone has a fit about it. What's wrong with being right? ;)
 
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