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Pet Peeve rants.
- Thread starter Mathias
- Start date
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makare
When I use boughten (and it is colloquial I suppose but totally still a word) I would say "this or that thing was boughten instead of homemade". So yeah as an adjective. Although I suppose I might use it as "something had been boughten" like i would say "something had been written". I would never say I boughten something.
Well now you're just speaking in passive voice to hide the fact that boughten sounds stupid as a strong verb.
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makare
It is used the same way as written. What is a strong verb? If you mean active verb then yeah it isn't the active form so it wouldn't be used that way.
You wouldn't say "I written that" but it doesn't change the value of written as a word.
You wouldn't say "I written that" but it doesn't change the value of written as a word.
I wouldn't say "that had been written" or "I had written that". I'd use the active voice and say "I wrote that." Just like I'd say "I bought that"; not "I had boughten that".
I know boughten is a real word, but it just sounds goofy and unintelligent.
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makare
What about saying "the declaration of independence was written in 1776"?
"The groceries had been boughten and the dinner had been made".
The art had been stolen before the alarm went off. The picture had been taken and everyone had gone home.
"The groceries had been boughten and the dinner had been made".
The art had been stolen before the alarm went off. The picture had been taken and everyone had gone home.
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makare
Purchased is way too formal for me. I don't think boughten sounds dumb at all, but I do love the passive voice. I am a bit old fashioned that way. When the pendulum swings and passive voice is popular again maybe boughten will return to the main stream.
Unfortunately people probably will be speaking in chatspeak by then. Except for us old fashioned types who hold onto correct forms even after they fall out of favor.
Unfortunately people probably will be speaking in chatspeak by then. Except for us old fashioned types who hold onto correct forms even after they fall out of favor.
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makare
That is the second time you have said I imply things. I think the problem is you assume to much.
Imply... or implode?
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makare
implodEN goddamn it!
This is my nightmare scenario.
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makare
Well.. SO'S YOUR FACE!*
No seriously, I don't care if people think it sounds dumb. It is mostly a colloquial thing anymore and so it doesn't really matter. It IS a word though. That is the important thing.
*I never get to say that in a context that makes sense
No, the important thing is that the word was incorrectly. Perhaps it is in the O.E.D., but not for use in that context. I have no doubt the person I spoke to used it in place of bought, purchased, or acquired. It was used incorrectly, and it was a silly mistake that I would think a 29 year old man would avoid.
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makare
I did say I wouldn't use it that way. I think it is generally agreed that the person you talked to used it wrong. My initial response was to null's reacting in a way that seemed to suggest it wasn't a word at all.
Also just to be clear whether or not anyone likes the word or not isn't a big deal to me. It is a word I use and like because I think it makes more sense in every day speech than other words with similar meanings. Some people think it sounds stupid *shrug* what ya gonna do?
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Jiarn
I always say "The groceries had been bought...."
Take the Pirner look over Cobain. Cobain ended up with Courtney Love when Pirner was basically married to Winona Ryder...
fade
Staff member
A lot of writers unfortunately also extrapolate their strict "no passive voice" rule to all writing. Passive voice certainly belongs in technical writing, or any place where the actor is either irrelevant or would be uncomfortably present in active voice. You can use active sentences when possible by shifting the action over to a non-human speaker ("A magnetic anomaly was present in the sample" vs. "Magnetic susceptibility testing showed an anomaly in sample THX1138"), but sometimes the second feels really off.
I really don't know why 'boughten' has become the embiggened topic of this thread. Let's all just agree that it's a perfectly cromulant word to use.
Added at: 10:18
Added at: 10:18
Ah science journals. That magical land where passive voice rules with an iron fist.
Boughten imbiggens the spirit.
Around here "outen" is a commonly used verb. Anytime I hear someone ask to "outen the lights," I want to punch them in the head.
Added at: 10:36
Pet Peeve rant:
I hate it when I'm wearing clothes with the Penn State logo, and some jackass tries to start the "We are..." chant. We're not at a game asshole. You sound like an idiot.
Added at: 10:36
Pet Peeve rant:
I hate it when I'm wearing clothes with the Penn State logo, and some jackass tries to start the "We are..." chant. We're not at a game asshole. You sound like an idiot.
Ugh. I was trained to write the passive voice for technical papers and I am doing everything I can to undo that training.
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Disconnected
Dear internet,
Please stop using 'Epic'.
Sincerely
Me.
Please stop using 'Epic'.
Sincerely
Me.
I don't mind the "net" using it... it is the Network News using it.
If you are over 40 and are on TV don't say Epic...
If you are over 40 and are on TV don't say Epic...
fade
Staff member
It's not necessarily wrong. I think too many people are rapping knuckles with the "No Passive Voice" stick. Sometimes it's appropriate. Chaining 10 passive sentences together on the other hand is professor-grade sedative. I think a bigger problem is padding and prepositional phrase chaining. Dear students, stop using "as well as" instead of "and", etc. And stop writing sentences like, "The measurement of the length of the grain of the mineral in the rock from the basin in the Gulf of Mexico." That sentence is like 3 times longer than it should be.
Yeah, I use a blend of active and passive at the moment. I'm not sure I like even that, really. In psychology research, you really do have to consider the experimenter. We are studying people and, as social animals, being people can influence that. I think it is worthwhile in my discipline to acknowledge that I (or my research assistants) were actors in the experiment, even if we have removed as much of that influence as possible. It was ultimately I that created the stimuli and the researchers who administered the instructions, etc.
Added at: 10:24
Also, I would argue that when referring to previous research, it is both more interesting and more respectful to identify the actors that conducted the research and how they interpreted it than to simply refer to their experiment as something that happened.