Words that get on your nerves

I have a similar problem which is getting worse as I become older - when I speak Welsh I can only seem to remember the English words for things, and when I speak English I can only seem to remember the Welsh words. It's a good job most people I talk to are bilingual so they know what I'm saying

 

I just remember the knocker upper who came round the village to wake the colliers on early shift.

 

I've lived in France since 1985, first OH's choice. I speak French fluently now but for the first 15 years I thought in English and translated everything in my head. I still have a very English accent. I grew up in Surrey but people said either I spoke posh, or I spoke like the late Queen or I didn't have an accent. I can't imitate accents and I find strong accents difficult to understand.

 

I was born in the middle so I was a northerner or southerner depending on another's perspective. Had elocution lessons which left me with a mongrel, totally unidentifiable accent although I could still speak the 'ent, kent, shunt, wunt and gunna' for a laugh. Now I've got the same dilemma in France, having learnt Parisian French but ended up in the South West with it's totally different accent

 

I came across the phrase, about a big cat, "it slinked away", no it didn't it slunk away.
Even the American spellchecker doesn't like it.

 

Shined is another one when shone is usually the correct form.

 

Adverts that claim something is 2 times as effective. Why not just say twice?

 

Merriam Webster, a short history thereof…

 

Ah, it just says that Messrs Merriam and Webster began their enterprise as an American version of the English dictionaries that were available in their day.
Mr Webster began it because he thought that the average American couldn’t cope with the oddities of English spelling. After he died, Mr Merriam continued the task. So “slinked” I suppose struck them as easier to get their heads around than “slunk”.

 

Hold control and hit the + sign, still a bit fuzzy but bigger fuzzy.