Comments on: Grammar Guru: I’m lovin’ it!

By: Anne

Anne — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:59:49 +0000

Grammar Girl’s got a nice podcast on “I’m lovin’ it”:
http://tinyurl.com/yeg2zn3
Stative verbs:
1. thought and opinion
2. possession
3. love, need
4. senses (can be both stative and dynamic)
Since this idiomatic use sounds slightly off, it attracts attention. Iffy phrases catch on. It’s becoming more acceptable, but ESL teachers should advise against using it.

By: Anne

Anne — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 07:01:10 +0000

Final poll count for “I’m lovin’ it!”:

* This is bad English (73%, 8 votes)
* This English is fine for other people to use (27%, 3 votes)
* This English is good enough for me (0%, 0 votes)

By: Tweets die The Island Weekly » Blog Archive » Grammar Guru: I’m lovin’ it! erwähnt -- Topsy.com

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:34:20 +0000

[...] Dieser Eintrag wurde auf Twitter von annehodg und Sean Banville, Sudam Panigrahi erwähnt. Sudam Panigrahi sagte: I am loving it @annehodg http://annehodgson.de/2010/01/30/grammar-guru-im-lovin-it/ [...]

By: Anne

Anne — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 19:35:05 +0000

@Chris(tina),
Exactly, I’m with you. But maybe we’re just promoting a homogenized brand of “teachers’ English”. Note that McDonalds published their ad in 2003. And guess how Martin Hewings “Advanced Grammar in Use” Second Edition (2005/9) introduces Unit 1 on the present simple and present continuous, p.2:

“We can use the present simple with some state verbs (e.g. attract, like, look, love, sound) when we want to emphasise a situation is temporary or for a period of time around the present. Compare:
* Jean stays with us quite often. The children love having her here.
* Jean’s staying with us at the moment. The children are loving having her here.
State verbs which we rarely use with the present continuous include believe, consist of, doubt, own.”

So some verbs I certainly didn’t use in the continuous when I lived in Washington (up to the early 1980s), now can be.

By: Anne

Anne — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 19:04:10 +0000

Andy Warhol Eats a Hamburger.
Don’t think he’s lovin’ it, though.
Lovin’ looks different

In the link I gave, Mike said that the German translation “Ich liebe es” got it wrong; it’s more about enjoyment, like Alice + Mark said, so perhaps “Genieße es!” would have been the better claim.
The heads behind the 2003 ad, by the way, were the MUNICH ad agency http://www.heyegroup.de/ compare http://www.presseportal.de/pm/52942/454242/mcdonald_s_deutschland
Chris, what do you make of Andy Warhol’s video?

By: Englischlinks der Woche - Englisch lernen

Englischlinks der Woche - Englisch lernen — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 14:47:17 +0000

[...] Grammar Guru: I’m lovin’ it! http://annehodgson.de/2010/01/30/grammar-guru-im-lovin-it/ [...]

By: chris

chris — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:00:58 +0000

I guess it comes down to what you mean by “good” and “bad”.
It might not be what someone teaches in a formal approach but a lot of people speak like this.
Mark’s point seems pretty spot on.
But… if leaving your dirty socks on the floor was bad then giving Mcdonalds air time on your blog is wicked.
Even with an apology as introduction .
I hope his loving it is temporary until he tastes something good!!