English language gone wrong?

[KittyGlitter]

When did people start saying "I'm loving/hating/liking that whatever" instead of "I love/hate/like..." ? In other words, putting an 'ing' on the end of words that I'm sure never used to have them. I don't know why, but I find it really annoying!

P.S I'm lovin' this website ;o)

[FP]

Good question Kitty.  Don't know the answer but look forward to seeing what follows!  Glad you like the Website - like your user name!

[IndieSinger]

According to me, it originated several years ago in London and, like most "in" phrases, radiated outwards over the country in the following months until, as usual, by the time everyone else was using it, Londoners deemed it out-of-date and were using other slang phrases, at whose meanings everyone else could only vaguely guess.

McDonald's cottoned onto it a year or so ago, and used it as their international phrase (although I'm not sure if it's used in the USA?). A company such as this using the phrase meant it soon infiltrated the (admittedly already very limited) vocabulary of the average chav's daily gruntings. ("I'm lovin' this Kappa jacket/Diamond White/modified Corsa" etc.) It's interesting to note that in most countries, the McDonald's phrase loses its "trendiness" - the whole point of the statement is that it's a modern with-it expression. However, the present continuous "~ing" verb form rarely exists with our European counterparts. That means their slogans (for example Ich liebe es in Germany and Je l'aime in France) translate simply as "I love it" and completely lack the hip element. Although I admit that many European countries use their translated phrase alongside the English one. Except the Netherlands - they only use the English phrase and not Ik houd van het or anything similar.

Oh I've gone off on one again, haven't I.

[IndieSinger]

I should point out ('cause God knows, my last post just wasn't long or irrelevent enough) that the McDonald's phrase causes all sorts of problems for some Europeans learning English. When a German sees "I'm lovin' it" on his/her fries, s/he thinks, "But I thought you couldn't use the "~ing" form in English in this situation?" S/He would, of course, be completely correct. McDonald's is spreading bad grammar. FACT.

[Peter Pedant]

Linguists are going to flock to this sort of thing.

I liked Indie's duh-daaar purple passage.

The present tense in English can be present (I Wait)or present progressive (I am waiting). This does not occur in Latin, but does in modern Italian, and not at all in French. So the progressive construction entered English on the late side. Some verbs dont admit the progressive construction as they entered the language before it. The obvious one is know, and the construction I am knowing - is never used.

The constuctions you are complaining about - or you say you are hating, to my mind are acceptable.

Is this being irrelevant enough?

 

[zgma]

Yeah, people use it in the US, unfortunately.  I think there is a bit of a difference in the meanings of "I love it" and "I am loving it" - "I love it" is simply a statement of how you generally feel about something.  "I am loving it" means something more along the lines of "I am enjoying it right at the moment". 

However, it's still very annoying.

[nicola_red]

I think it's a good thing that our language changes in this way. It happens to any healthy language, it shouldn't be seen as deterioration. I particularly like "I'm feeling it" for liking something.