I don’t understand this universe any more

[2996 Victor]

I have to agree with all of the foregoing, and also mention my own personal bugbears: the poor, mis-used possessive apostrophe, and the maddening use of "T's n C's" instead of "Terms and Conditions"  

[Whofan]

5 hours ago, stevehnz said:

God, what a pack of grumps. Can I join you please.

Welcome to the grump club !

[Macsporran]

8 hours ago, Black Knight said:

I stopped, said to her 'I think that is really not appropriate here, its fine in a restaurant. Do you see what I bought? Do you think I'll really 'enjoy' it?

I showed her the bottle of paint remover I'd just bought

As I wandered off I heard her with the next customer; she hesitated then said to them 'Thank you, have a good day'

 

I think you heard the last bit through rose tinted ears!

Would that it were true, but I bet she actually said something else entirely about her previous customer!🙂

[jackroadkill]

3 hours ago, 2996 Victor said:

the poor, mis-used possessive apostrophe

 

Don't get me started....  This is what greets me every morning when I arrive at the car park at work:

 

 

Where do you start?!

[tonyh]

6 minutes ago, jackroadkill said:

 

Don't get me started....  This is what greets me every morning when I arrive at the car park at work:

 

 

 

 

Where do you start?!

 

Add the apostrophe to Grocerie’s and Cake’s of course!

 

I’ll get my 🧥 

[2996 Victor]

8 minutes ago, jackroadkill said:

 

Don't get me started....  This is what greets me every morning when I arrive at the car park at work:

 

 

Where do you start?!

Aaarrrrggggghhhhhh!!!!!!! Maddening! At least there aren't any potatoe's or tomatoe's.....

[bentwaters81tfw]

16 minutes ago, jackroadkill said:

 

Don't get me started....  This is what greets me every morning when I arrive at the car park at work:

 

 

Where do you start?!

Start with a shade card, then bring in a pot of Humbrol and a flat brush.

[Bertie McBoatface]

20 hours ago, tank152 said:

I'd like to add the in vogue  use of congrats instead of saying congratulations. Is it really that hard to say the full word.

 

No, but spelling it might be causing some people pain. 😄

 

17 hours ago, Black Knight said:

Ack-ack comes from the sound of the shells exploding.

 

I believe, the earlier WWI radio/telephone speaking convention, as opposed to a true phonetic alphabet, used Ack for A, Emma for M, Pip for P. I remember those examples because of the AM/PM times Ack Emma and Pip Emma. I don't remember them from the actual period of use though!

 

 

"Bear with  me" is a telephone cliché that always makes me smile as I imagine a grizzly bear in a call centre. I preferred "hang on please" but that was a bit strange too when you think about it.

[ckw]

14 hours ago, Retired Bob said:

My personal grump is the now common way of starting a sentence with the word 'so'...... Question, Why

I thought it was a way to make what the speaker is about to say sound like a consequence of what they've been asked, whether it has anything to do with the question or not. Very often used by politicians.

 

Cheers

 

Colin

[Bertie McBoatface]

17 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

FineScale Modeler magazine... It's bad ... that they don't know how to spell modeller

 

Yes, moddeller is definitely the way to go. Put the 'odd' back into the hobby. 😜

[Ratch]

I was under the impression that we used language to understand each other, with the written word being especially important. The substitution of there with they’re and their, is of particular annoyance. Each means something different and alters the meaning of what’s written.

[Bertie McBoatface]

 

17 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

FineScale Modeler magazine... It's bad ... that they don't know how to spell modeller

 

It's a curious thing about the 'American' spellings of many words (color, ax, plow, etc), that they are how those words were commonly spelt here in the seventeenth century. They have retained the old ways while we, in the early eighteenth century, thinking anything French to be fashionable, changed a lot of our spellings to that style. Samuel Johnsons dictionary of 1755 then fixed a lot of those spellings for centuries to come.

 

It's also interesting to me that when I was young, I embraced the natural changes in the language with pleasure, but now I'm old, I resent them. I ask myself whether that's because I'm copying what I heard all the old men saying about change when I was a kid? Alternately (sic), have I become scared of change, in anticipation of my next great 'life change' - to a corpse. 😉

[Heather Kay]

2 minutes ago, Bertie Psmith said:

Samuel Johnsons dictionary of 1755 then fixed a lot of those spellings for centuries to come.

It is often overlooked that printers had quite the hand in "fixing" aspects of written language. Much punctuation is down to that inky-fingered lot.

[Bertie McBoatface]

2 minutes ago, Heather Kay said:

It is often overlooked that printers had quite the hand in "fixing" aspects of written language. Much punctuation is down to that inky-fingered lot.

 

I miss the :- punctuation. It's hardly ever used now, perhaps because it was commonly known as dog balls. Another old favorite (sic) was the ditto sign with the extending lines, -------"------- meaning 'copy the whole line above'. It was very common in the RAF but I don't think I've seen it much since demob.

[Bertie McBoatface]

5 hours ago, 2996 Victor said:

I have to agree with all of the foregoing, and also mention my own personal bugbears: the poor, mis-used possessive apostrophe, and the maddening use of "T's n C's" instead of "Terms and Conditions"  

 

Do you need an apostrophe after an abbreviation? 😉

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=Is+it+Ts+and+Cs+or+T's+and+C's%3F&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj7mLCJmJ_0AhUCSfEDHUkUAYQQzmd6BAgTEAU&biw=1536&bih=760&dpr=1.25

 

 

[-Ian-]

More language based annoyances:

 

Misuse of the word 'literally'

People (usually politicians) starting a sentence with the word 'look'

The recent media trend of referring to politicians as 'lawmakers'

 

 

[Macsporran]

18 minutes ago, Heather Kay said:

It is often overlooked that printers had quite the hand in "fixing" aspects of written language. 

 

Printers and typesetters!

- some years ago we had a speaker at Round Table from the Dundee Courier, who showed some remarkable examples of "creative" typesetting. The most memorable was a headline from the late fifties which should have read 

"President ill. Eisenhower confined to the White House."

Unfortunately the typesetter had used an "S" instead of a "W" in White House!!!! 

[2996 Victor]

24 minutes ago, Bertie Psmith said:

 

Do you need an apostrophe after an abbreviation? 😉

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=Is+it+Ts+and+Cs+or+T's+and+C's%3F&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj7mLCJmJ_0AhUCSfEDHUkUAYQQzmd6BAgTEAU&biw=1536&bih=760&dpr=1.25

 

 

Apparently, their (sic) unnecessary clutter, so no  I notice, however, that Globalnegotiator.com has "TS & Cs" which begs the question, "What are TSs?"  

[2996 Victor]

My ex was always saying, "Should of", instead of, "Should have", and, "Of cause", instead of, "Of course". My attempts at correcting her probably contributed to the reasons for divorce

[AntPhillips]

7 minutes ago, 2996 Victor said:

My ex was always saying, "Should of", instead of, "Should have", and, "Of cause", instead of, "Of course". My attempts at correcting her probably contributed to the reasons for divorce

 

 

I have three step-daughters, two of them continuously use the "Should of" phrase, I've given up correcting them now, as I'm pretty certain they do it just because they know it irritates me, unfortunately divorce is not an option 😉

 

[PhoenixII]

.....but @AntPhillips as long as you live longer than their Mother, you get to write your will! Just my musing

[John Tapsell]

52 minutes ago, -Ian- said:

The recent media trend of referring to politicians as 'lawmakers'

At least we haven't (yet) adopted the common American media (and even government) habit of referring to all service personnel (irrespective of service or role) as 'warfighters'.

 

6 hours ago, 2996 Victor said:

the poor, mis-used possessive apostrophe,

That seems to be American influence as well. I've been reading through a series of WWII documents (After Action Reports - what we Brits call War Diaries- and campaign histories). the misuse of the apostrophe was common throughout those documents in the 1940s - it's common for its time 

 

[JohnT]

“Stakeholders”

And any business jargon

 

 

(nearly said business speak there )

 

[alt-92]

3 minutes ago, JohnT said:

“Stakeholders”

Steakholders.

 

There, fixed it. 

[Mike]

2 hours ago, Bertie Psmith said:

 

Yes, moddeller is definitely the way to go. Put the 'odd' back into the hobby. 😜

Believe me when I say that the "odd" is well and truly ensconced in a few modellers already