this post was submitted on 09 May 2025
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[–] L0rdMathias 14 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Holy moly proper use of the regular past tense of sneak?? I haven't seen that on the internet ever. "I sneaked my way into the concert, but I also snuck several beers into the venue."

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 days ago


"I Snooki'd my way into the pantry"

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Wait, English has two different verbs "to sneak"?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, but people will look at you weird if you use sneaked in serious contexts.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I mean, OC implies that "sneaked" and "snuck" have different meanings

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Might be a regional thing, but in the US you only hear snuck unless the person is trying to be cutesy, like pretending to be a cat.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

Yeah, so far I've also only heard snuck.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

More than that. One can creep about, or flit stealthily from place to place.

I'm sure there's more.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Nono, those are synonyms of " to sneak". He is saying that sneak has two different past tenses, depending on the meaning.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Oh I understand now that I misunderstood.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Transitive vs intransitive, I guess

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

That would be an absolute anomaly in English, as far as I know.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Ah yes, because English is such a structured and regular language otherwise

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

I think you conflate irregular orthography and irregular grammar or conjugation paradigms.

Like it's pretty regular otherwise.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago

Hmmmm

My German speaking brain (as a second language, my native language is English) is interpreting “my way” and “several beers” as accusative objects, and the repeated use of “into” as clues which would make me want to use the same conjugation for both. I could see “I sneaked into the concert but I also snuck several beers in.”