гортанобесие (novembris) wrote in linguaphiles,
гортанобесие
novembris
linguaphiles
Hi, I've got a stupid question about English.
I often see people say "I wish I were..." or "If I were you".
Why are they using "were" there? Which is better in this situation, "was" or "were"? Word corrects "were" to "was", but Google seems to think both are correct, and people use "were" more often.
Subscribe

  • UDDER and WATER

    To the memory of Vladislav Illich-Svitych. This is just to bring attention to something very ‘Nostratic’ (far beyond ‘Indo-European’ languages —…

  • Three one-hundredths of a second

    (Somewhat prompted by watching the Olympics.) Why is that silly redundancy there in "three one-hundredths of a second"? Nobody says "two one-thirds…

  • Word 'Climax'. A note for aspiring etymologists.

    The English word climax has two seemingly incompatible meanings of "climax" and "orgasm". Yet, we should not forget that the word has not only a…

  • Post a new comment

    Error

    Anonymous comments are disabled in this journal

    switch
    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

    Your IP address will be recorded 

    Help
  • 23 comments

  • UDDER and WATER

    To the memory of Vladislav Illich-Svitych. This is just to bring attention to something very ‘Nostratic’ (far beyond ‘Indo-European’ languages —…

  • Three one-hundredths of a second

    (Somewhat prompted by watching the Olympics.) Why is that silly redundancy there in "three one-hundredths of a second"? Nobody says "two one-thirds…

  • Word 'Climax'. A note for aspiring etymologists.

    The English word climax has two seemingly incompatible meanings of "climax" and "orgasm". Yet, we should not forget that the word has not only a…