Common mistakes in English by Finns

[Hank W.]

I know people in college here in the US who have "spoken" English their whole life and still don't know the difference between to, too, and two or there, their, and they're.

<posh rp>
We've noticed.
</posh rp>

[mookoo]

My friends and I used to have fun correcting grammar on some of the posters on the college bulletin board. My friend and I are much like the two in the move "hear no evil, see no evil". Shes good at spelling, but not so much at grammar. I am better at grammar and suck at spelling. It must be genetic because when I lived at home my father would constantly ask me things like "how do you spell 'when'?"

AHAHA, which reminds me of last Christmas when my boyfriend Juha got a card from my father with the name "UHAW" written on it. I was pretty sure I knew who it was for although I don't know anyone with the name Uhaw. We had a good laugh about that one.

[neil]

many times, 'zip file' always comes out as 'chip file'.


E.g. "Hey UHAW, can you send me that chip file"

[khu]

Hehe. One of my girlfriend's friends pronounced !"#¤% as 'sit'. Understandable, obviously, as shh doesnt exist in Finnish. But funny nonetheless!

[Hank W.]

Finns get easily the s and sh in say "sit down and shut up" the wrong way around

[Tm]

I'm native Finnish speaker and I know my English isn't even near perfect! One of my funniest mistakes I've ever made is when I said to somebody to "worm up". I meant to warm up. I coudn't pronounce it right.
Does it have something to do with vermination?

Another big mistake I know some Finns have done is, instead of saying to their English speaking guest, "Let's have a beer together" they say "Let's have a bear together". They mean beer but they cannot pronounce it right, so they pronounce it as "a bear".
I think English speaking guests are afraid what kind of barbarians we are. Who welcomes the guest with a whole bear at the dinner table?

[harmaa]

Strength = strenght and so on. Constant mistake a friend of mine made.

[Helmi]

Good examples! "fall to sleep" I've heard often. And "taking a beer" vs "having a beer" is one that now springs to mind. (no, I'm not drinking).

Taking a beer also reminds me of the American saying "taking a sh!t". I mean for gawds sake, where do you take a sh!t and what do you do with it once you have taken it Any explanations?

Yours puzzled

Helmi

[mrjimsfc]

Taking a beer also reminds me of the American saying "taking a sh!t". I mean for gawds sake, where do you take a sh!t and what do you do with it once you have taken it Any explanations?

Yours puzzled

Helmi

Just don't get the two mixed up! I mean how would it be? "Having a sh!t". I do however, like most of you, take sh!t from my boss all the time. One must remember that the difference in taking sh!t and taking a sh!t is easily measured by the levels of stress/relief involved.

[Andrew_S]

"worm up"

Better to "worm it up" than to "vom it".

[Hank W.]

One must remember that the difference in taking sh!t and taking a sh!t is easily measured by the levels of stress/relief involved.

Or as I do; "I don't take any sh!t, I don't give a sh!t, I'm not in the sh!t business."

[mrjimsfc]

Or as I do; "I don't take any sh!t, I don't give a sh!t, I'm not in the sh!t business."

But as some have noted in the past, you're full of sh!t.

[khu]

Taking a beer also reminds me of the American saying "taking a sh!t". I mean for gawds sake, where do you take a sh!t and what do you do with it once you have taken it Any explanations?

This does not really differ from other expressions in the English lexicon, like 'taking a break', 'take solace', etc. And I know this other usage of 'take' exists in British/Australian/New Zealand dialects of English, so even if you consider it a bizarre idiom, it's not really a uniquely American one.

[Helmi]

Thanks for that, Khu.

I can wrap my xmas gifts with a weight off my mind now.

Merry xmas to you and yours.