cheerful

This is a rather screamy page, isn't it? ;-)

*keeping earplugs at the ready*

Ah, yes yes, perfectly understandable, as it were.

... I'm not feeling very cheerful anymore ...

bilby, yes, we've once again hijacked a perfectly respectable word page by veering off into left field.

sionnach, yes, I did notice your grammatically correct usage of "it were" in the subjunctive mood. I just wasn't sure about West Virginia, so I didn't say anything.

VanishedOne, I wasn't talking about the original quotation (see note to bilby, above, re: veering), but trying to get uselessness's attention since he yelled at me for saying I like "it were." Thanks for clarifying which mood though.

and finally... reesetee... CAN YOU HEAR ME? HUH?! HEY! Oh, you took your earplugs out already.

I sure can't see you. ;)

What am I, invisible, in this conversation? Yes, I mean YOU, c_b!

Actually I was interested in the cheerful angle more than the grammar. The full passage went like this:

"I remember that time when I studied at university. It were cheerful times. Certainly study was difficult, but after study always cheerful. At us was cheerful company and we each day off went to various clubs and cafe."

I was thinking that it was an interesting overuse of cheerful. To the English native speaker's ear it sounds like overkill but in some languages and indeed some kinds of rhetoric repetition is seen as reinforcing a word rather than weakening it. And in this case it's a word which is probably not an everyday item for native English speakers.

'Would that it were' is a correct use of the subjunctive, but 'It were cheerful times' appears to be a straightforward statement about the past, hence indicative.

You know, though, uselessness... that "it were" could actually be correct in certain grammatical situations. I think it's ... subjunctive mood (?). Is that what it's called?

*removing earplugs*

I THOUGHT I DID!!
ON SECOND READ, IT TURNS OUT I DID'NT!!
OOPS, I DID (NOT) IT AGAIN.
MY OUTRAGED, EXTREMELY UPPERCASE DEFENSE OF GRAMMAR HAS COLLAPSED UNDER ITS OWN WEIGHT.
and i have no recourse but to shut up now

*inserting earplugs*

USELESSNESS, THANK YOU FOR PLACING THE APOSTROPHES CORRECTLY IN "'TISN'T"!! I LIKE A MAN WHO CAN PLACE APOSTROPHES CORRECTLY!!

Edit: Oh crap... You didn't! (I'm sorry...I was just making a joke!)

Somebody throw uselessness a damp cloth to wipe his brow. ;-)

They told me that West Virginia is a gourmet's paradise. Would that it were, gentle readers, would that it were.

The disturbing yet somehow fascinating sound of uselessness blowing a gasket will probably NOT be recorded in the annals of history as cheerful.

I AM FULLY AWARE OF THIS, BUT STILL IRREPRESSIBLE.
'TIS'NT RIGHT, LAD, NOT ONE MITE!!

Often hear this construction in English dialects. eg. "I remember Stanley Matthews, he were grand."

DO YE HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YE'RE SAYING?!?!
WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE GRAMMAR?!?!

People should say "it were" more often. I like it.

"I remember that time when I studied at university. It were cheerful times."