[Gripping Pneus]

I share the pedants' view, having been taught that there was a correct form of English but I appreciate that the language evolves so just have to grin and bear it. After all, we don't all speak like Shakespearian characters, so that is proof of the rate of evolution.

I console myself with the thought that the purpose of the language is to convey accurately the thoughts of the speaker. If that is achieved, then the communication has been successful, so if I don't understand what the yoof's are saying then their use of language is bad. I am also sure that is the precise purpose of the new words and phrases - to exclude old fogies like me. Now, can someone explain the new meaning of "random" please?

 

[Ade]

Hi

random,sketchy,moody etc

 

[Ecurie Martini]

On the positive side, this young assistant still knows what a book is

Well, there is that point and perhaps it should not be taken lightly:

 

[mickey thumbs]

For now at least, books are still being printed. Not so for tickets to our local professional football team’s games. Electronic only. I won’t pay their prices so it doesn’t matter to me. Are the empty seats seen on the broadcast due to the difficulty passing on attendance rights should one be unable to attend or the disappointing performance of this year’s squad?

 

[dvd3500]

As a linguist I tend to try to differentiate between a fad, trend and an actual evolution.

Some things I can accept but certain things, for example where the meaning is completely lost or the listener would likely have the complete wrong idea really bother me.

Since we use English a lot at work but 99% are non native speakers it always takes me a while to get back to speaking "normally".

My kids learn (British) English as a foreign language in school and we often have discussion because some of the "rules" are new to me.

Latest example:

After a "prefer" one MUST use the infinite.

"I prefer to walk"

Now for the life of me I cannot see a difference between that and "I prefer walking".

The only thing I can think of is that it depends on how the question is asked or how the conversation goes.

But they learned it as a rule so they do what the book says cuz otherwise it is one point off and 1 point is already an A-....

 

[Mr Modifier]

The BBC news carried some devastating news last week . The demise of the Apostrophe Protection Society.

Formed in 2001 it enjoyed some success in preventing the abuse of the apostrophe. Sadly it closed a week or so ago because the 96 year old founder said that ignorance and apathy had won the war against bad grammar.

Successes included getting libraries to write the plural of CD as CDs this removing the apostrophe between the D and the s. Ironically I cannot illustrate this because SlotForum strips all apostrophes from my text when I post from my iPhone.

My case is fully rested!

Last week I attended a meeting to inform parents of the subject choices available in the Spring. The first slide was entitled Available choices except there was an apostrophe between the e and the s.

When confronting a teacher with this fact I was met with a look of confusion and a shrug of the shoulders.

Mourn the world dear hearts for it is surely ending in a morass of confusion and chaos.

 

[Trisha]

We are in mourning. The genitive apostrophe is in arbitrary freefall.

Absit invidia...

 

[dvd3500]

thatssadsonwewilllosetheperiodorfullstopaswellasthecommaandthespace

 

[gus3049]

I reckon 'most' of the English language will see us out. Future generations can make of it what they will.

I doubt I will be in a position to worry too much about it.

 

[Trisha]

It's that time of year again, isn't it? Off to the seasonal trough with the Munsters...

If only James Dyson would invent something useful - a machine that automatically removes labrador hairs from aunt Hermione's Christmas pudding, for example. Poor old girl's 98 and confuses custard and gravy...

I used to like turkey...

 

[PETER GUNN]

Ah xmas time Trisha where the shops ( that are left ) are full of tat, where the assistants wear hats with antlers, green and red one's with bell's on trying to look happy as they spend all day listening to Jingle Bell's over and over again, where some tubby ole geezer in a red suit goes ho ho ho little boy would you like to sit on santa's knee and tell him what you want for xmas, i normally say no to that invitation.

Where the neighbours try to outdo each other in xmas lights, we have red , white, blue, green, flashing , animal shaped , strings of them hanging from the gutters , reminds me of a certain street in Cairo.

Where all the ads are for tables loaded with things that make Auntie Flo pass wind all evening, and Uncle Bert who always says no i shouldn't to the third helping of xmas pud and then joins Auntie Flo in the wind section , where the telly is on with all the repeats upon repeats of xmas shows from the dawn of television, that most of my relatives seemed to remember , god bless them , where the log fire spits out embers onto the dog laying in front of it, after it,s plate of turkey joining in with the wind section and smouldering at the same time .

Where the xmas tree has started to wilt in the heat and drops prickles on anything or anyone who goes near it , yep Trisha it,s that time of year again.

 

[Trisha]

KFW

Yep, you're right. We're getting worse, eh! Last year was the most disturbing ever. Arrived at the Munsters' for noon trough. Uncle Bonkers, who is very deaf, thought he heard intruders.

Farming instinct led him to his fave 12-bore - a prob after the Scotch he'd already necked - which he discharged into the kitchen ceiling without encouragement...

Auntie thought it was fearfully funny. I did not. Uncle Bonkers has spent the last year shouting obscenities at his gun cabinet. For the sake of humanity, it's now empty. But the ceiling's still a mess...

 

[StuBeeDoo]

Christmas...... Scrooge summed it up most eloquently.

I concur with the comments about linguistics, etc. But another of the many bad habits that are creeping into the art of speaking British English which really boils my water is the improper use of intonation. One very good example is the really annoying presenters on Strictly Come Dancing........... Listen to them introducing the judging panel. When they say "....the judges" they use falling intonation when they should be using rising.

 

[Dopamine]

The BBC news carried some devastating news last week . The demise of the Apostrophe Protection Society.

Tragic.

The announcement appears to have severely wounded the organisation's website too.

www.apostrophe.org.uk

I'd like to request that those charged with writing rules for slot car racing classes are henceforth drawn from the apostrophelitically* challenged, because it would undoubtedly create some interesting loopholes to exploit.

* Language evolution in action. I couldn't think of an appropriate word, so invented one. How long before we see a mutation containing an apostrophe?

 

[beardy56]

" yep Trisha it,s that time of year again."

And now a dropped apostrophe (no offence meant) just had to laugh given one of the current live topics.

 

[RikoRocket]

Ade, innit is old school, a simple "not" will now suffice

I had missed the change in keying in your pin. I now feel very old...

 

[StuBeeDoo]

This morning, when discussing Christmas with my step-son and -daughter-in-law I realised exactly why it is that I don't enjoy "the holiday season". It's the expectations, demands, intransigence and downright selfishness of older people in my life. The younger ones have never been any bother.

Starting in the late '80s, when I moved away from my home town (at the age of 29), first it was my Nana. "You'll have to come and stay with us. What time on Christmas Eve can you get here? When do you go back to work? Can't you stay until after New Year?" I remember one year being coerced into saying I'd stay right through the holiday, 10 days or so, and by the end of Boxing Day suddenly "remembering" that I had wanted to re-decorate my living room.

Then, after Nana died, my Mother took over. This usually involved me spending most of the time I agreed to spend with her driving around countless long-lost distant relatives, me having been told "They'd love to see you. ..........And, in any case, what else have you got to do while you're here??" I'm certain that in some instances we arrived totally unexpectedly and possibly inconveniently.

Now that I've re-married, Mother insists on coming to us for week - having already spent a week with my brother. She also insists she won't use public transport over the holiday period, so I have to meet her and my brother half-way between his and ours (a 200 mile round trip for both of us) before going to do an 8hr shift at work. She also is oblivious to the fact that, as a nurse, Wor Lass has to work nightshifts. Before the "season" has begun, Mother has already started to complain that WL trying to sleep during the day is an inconvenience to her! "Why can't she take time-off?" My reply didn't go down well........ "How would you feel if you had to go into hospital and there were no doctors and nurses to look after you?" All I got in response was "..........But I'm your Mother and it's Christmas."

WL's parents insist that the whole extended family be together on Boxing Day afternoon & evening. We have tried in the past hiring a room, but after a single year we were told in no uncertain terms by WLs parents that the room was unacceptable on several levels, despite everyone else thinking it was a success. So, yet again this year, 18 fully-grown humans have been coerced into cramming into 2 rooms with seating for 10 max., while WL's parents hold court telling the same stories that we've heard every year since time immemorial. .........And many of the gathered throng have to pretend to be having "the best time", just to keep the relics (sorry, lovely OAPs) happy.

Christmas and New Year would be great if it weren't for aged parents and grandparents. ............And please don't tell me I'll miss them when they're gone. I will, but only because life will be so much more relaxed.

I know that I'm in a small minority, but I would actually enjoy Christmas on my own. That is unlikely to ever happen unless Wor Lass pre-deceases me.

 

[gus3049]

We don't do christmas so never have such problems.

Actually, I lie, we do do christmas as in turkey, pud, pies and cake just for the two of us. I've made the cake and pies and have, about two minutes ago, had the first slice of cake. Just to try it you understand and check it's OK.

It's a good thing I'm so modest.......

My problem is is that I always seem to make too much thus (as opposed to so), being of the older generation, I will have to force some upon a neighbour or two

 

[Trisha]

Stuart

A little 'sound' advice for you if I might be so presumptuous. My late father objected, most strongly, to almost everyone and had a solution to their intrusion, which he regarded as unhygenic impertinence.

No one could get near him, especially at Christmas, because... he loved... music.

As soon as he became cognizant of imminent intrusion, he took out his trombone... and played, unaccompanied solos for as long as he needed to.

It's incontrovertible and irrefutable that no one on Planet Earth has ever succeeded in holding an intelligible conversation with a chap playing a trombone, which is just one reason why I continue to exercise loathing for the brass/silver ensembles of orchestras.

I advise, therefore, that you buy a sliphorn; whether you learn to play it, or not, blowing into it will expel people from your home - very quickly in my experience...

 

[Ecurie Martini]

As an alternative to the trombone, you might investigate the (musical?) instrument that I attempted when, at age 40, I decided it was time to acquire musical skills - the bagpipe! Never gained much expertise ( probably a genetic thing) but I could create a bit of a stir at sundown when at anchor in my sailboat.