Does ANYONE speak proper English any more?
Welcome back!
The local news people did it again.
Last evening they ran that same tired old report they run every year explaining all the things you should do to avoid “busted pipes”. What drives me up the wall about this annual report is not the fact that it’s the same list that’s been hammered into our heads since I was old enough to chew, nor is it the fact that anybody with a dash of common sense would know these things without being told year after year, ad infinitum. It’s the fact that “busted” is not a word when used that way and the people who get paid for using the English language really SHOULD know enough about the tools of their trade to recognize that fact.
A “bust” is a sculpture of a person from the shoulders up.
A “bust” is also slang for an arrest. Given that definition, it is possible for a person to get “busted”. However, I’ve never heard of a pipe being arrested. I can just imagine…
A Florida vacation rentals pipes were arrested today and charged with aiding and abetting drug runners who were disposing of cocaine. The pipes were busted shorty after the toilet bowl agreed to turn State’s evidence and help flush out the criminals.
Riiiiight.
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Is busted actually even a word at all or just slang for “broken” or as you mention “arrested”. I kinda doubt you’d refer to a person who had a sculpture made of themselves as being “busted” or am I wrong? At any rate it’s definitely improper English.
lol. The other day talking to a friend, I was telling him I was afraid I wouldn’t pass an interview because of my bad English. I am Spanish. I was very shocked when he told me that very few people talked it right.
My mother was very diligent in teaching her kids correct grammar and it made high school English class SO easy for me. Now that I’m raising my granddaughter I’m doing what I can to ensure that she learns proper grammar from day one.