grammaticality - In what dialects is "I don't like it too" grammatical?

Consider:

Too — (adv.) also, as well, in addition.

We don’t usually use too in negative clauses; we use either instead:

I don’t like that kind of stuff.

I don’t like it either.

That said, here’s my concern: I’ve heard a native speaker from the Lake District (in the UK) say “I won’t do it and she won't do it too.”

When asked if that's how he usually phrases such sentences, I got an affirmative answer. This then reminded me of John Lennon’s lyrics to his song “Imagine”, which I had always thought must be wrong:

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too

Is it grammatical in the UK (or in certain regions) to use too instead of either in such sentences?

Answer

WELSH ENGLISH

The term is recent and controversial. English is, however, the majority language of Wales, and as in other parts of the English-speaking world, a concise term such as "Welsh English" appears unavoidable. (Nikolas Coupland, English in Wales, Clevedon & Philadelphia, 1990.)

Dialects of English in Wales are as diverse as elsewhere in Britain. They vary in terms of pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary, but can be broadly categorized as: (1) The English of people who are bilingual, Welsh/English, and whose English is strongly influenced by Welsh. (2) Dialects of English similar to those of neighbouring counties of England, and often sharing features, especially at the syntactic level, with other working-class BrE dialects. (3) Standard English with an RP accent. (Loreto Todd, University of Leeds)

Among non-standard phrases and colloquialisms which reflect an influence from the Welsh Language, we can cite: "We're going out now, isn't it?", "Money they're not short of.", "There's lovely you are!". For more examples and detailed explanantions, see Language in the British Isles, page 192

Finally, typical of Welsh English is the substitution of "too" for "either" in negative sentences.

I don't like it.

I don't like it too.

Tom McArthur, The Oxford Companion to the English Language, Oxford University Press, 1992.

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...

nouns - what do you call the person who passes the trophies to the prize giver/presenter?

The person who gives out the trophies to the winners are called award presenters. So what do u call the person who passes the trophies to the presenter? Thanks!

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.

Notes

Search This Blog