What's with the golly-goshing a'postrophes?

[Mike]

1 hour ago, Admiral Puff said:

"At this particular point in time, time-wise"

I used to work with a woman who had fallen into a nominal office-manager position in command of three admin ladies, and she'd picked up the word "timescales", and used to use it wherever the word time should have been, presumably because she thought it sounded more official or technical.  For example, "Shirley doesn't have the timescales to be doing any extra work".  She also had the longest arms I've ever seen on a short woman.  She was almost a knuckle-dragger in a literal sense, quide lidderally!

[ckw]

15 hours ago, Enzo the Magnificent said:

I also dislike the fact that the word "text" seems to have mutated from a noun into a verb.  Even worse, it seems to lost any form of tense. 

That I'm OK with - its the natural evolution of language to accept changes in the real world. To text is analogous to 'post' (I'll post you a letter) and 'email'. I'm not sure it has lost tense - I hear (and use) texted, though it may not generally the be case.

 

I thought Twitter was a very clever name for the service as it naturally leant itself to 'tweets' and 'tweeting' God knows what was going through Musk's mind when changing it to X! Are people going to ever start saying 'I Xed you'? 

 

WhatsApp is another stupid name (though I like the service) as it doesn't feel comfortable as a verb. I occasionally hear 'I whatsapped you' but more likely than not its 'I messaged you' - I guess at present WhatsApp is the messaging system of choice so the application can be assumed, but its not precise and could lead to confusion.

 

As a general rule I don't like nouns being turned into verbs when its just a lazy shorthand, but sometimes the practice does serve a useful purpose. Texting is definitely a distinct activity that didn't exist until recently. Many words in English serve dual purpose - for instance 'talk' and 'walk', so nothing new there.

 

Cheers

 

Colin

 

[Bertie McBoatface]

On 12/02/2024 at 23:45, Mike said:

Don't be so melodramatic.

 

= Don't criticise the boss.

 

Fair enough, It's your website.

[Mike]

24 minutes ago, Bertie McBoatface said:

 

= Don't criticise the boss.

 

Fair enough, It's your website.

Oh, grow up.  You're the only one finding this offensive, and yet you're still right?

[ColonelKrypton]

6 minutes ago, Mike said:

Oh, grow up.  You're the only one finding this offensive, and yet you're still right?

 

Praise in public, criticize in private.

 

I have found this topic to be humorous but is fast becoming humorless. I leave you with one of my favourite quotes regarding the English language:

 

Quote

“The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a 
cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down 
alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.”

 

― James D. Nicoll

 

with all due respect,

 

cheers, Graham 

[Mike]

24 minutes ago, ColonelKrypton said:

Praise in public, criticize in private.

Alternately, if someone can’t criticise (virtue signal) in private, they don’t deserve the courtesy. Tried it for years, and it seems to be only public embarrassment that works with some people.

 

like your quote though  

[IanHx]

7 hours ago, ColonelKrypton said:

. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down 
alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.”

 

 

"The French have no word for entrepreneur"

- George "Dubyah" Bush

[Bullbasket]

Here's one that seems to be appearing more and more, especially amongst the trendy TV reporters. When I was growing up in the 50s, the TV and cinema were full of films about cowboys and indians. One tribe which  featured a lot in them were the Cheyenne and it was always pronounced "shy ann". But recently, when this name comes up in a report, it's pronounced "shay en". Perhaps one of our US cousins can explain which is the correct pronunciation.

 

John.

[593jones]

32 minutes ago, Bullbasket said:

Here's one that seems to be appearing more and more, especially amongst the trendy TV reporters. When I was growing up in the 50s, the TV and cinema were full of films about cowboys and indians. One tribe which  featured a lot in them were the Cheyenne and it was always pronounced "shy ann". But recently, when this name comes up in a report, it's pronounced "shay en". Perhaps one of our US cousins can explain which is the correct pronunciation.

 

John.

 

Maybe one of the BM massive is a member of the Cheyenne nation and could elucidate for ;us  😁

 

Anyway, something else that really annoys me is when someone is said to 'double down' on something.  What's wrong with ''repeats'?

[dnl42]

Double down is a gambling term; Black Jack more specifically. 

[alt-92]

On 2/14/2024 at 11:06 AM, ckw said:

I occasionally hear 'I whatsapped you' but more likely than not its 'I messaged you'

Over here, it's even shorter: "I apped you"

[pigsty]

4 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

Perhaps one of our US cousins can explain which is the correct pronunciation.

I doubt it.  The country we know as Tunisia is called Tooneesha over there.

[Alan P]

On 2/14/2024 at 3:12 PM, ColonelKrypton said:

"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore."

What's a cribhouse, and can one still find them? Asking for a friend.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

4 minutes ago, Alan P said:

What's a cribhouse, and can one still find them? Asking for a friend.

 

I think it's a place where people gather to play cribbage. 

[davecov]

Yesterday, I received a letter concerning a pension and some action that is going to taken to correct underpayments for a small number of people. Rather than say "those entitled [will receive corrective payments]", they have said "those in-scope for the remedy". Sounds really stupid and having had a colonoscopy two weeks ago, it brought tears to my eyes - again. 😖

 

Dave

[Alan P]

19 minutes ago, Enzo the Magnificent said:

I think it's a place where people gather to play cribbage. 

Are these people of easy virtue? My friend's palms are slightly sweaty, apparently.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

3 minutes ago, Alan P said:

Are these people of easy virtue? My friend's palms are slightly sweaty, apparently.

 

I doubt it.  My great aunt Agatha used to love to play cribbage. I imagine she would have visited a cribhouse on occasion. 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

On 13/02/2024 at 14:44, ckw said:

And 'like'. I've heard conversations where 'like' is every second word. But these happily seem confined to speech and I think are the  equivalent of 'ah' or  'umh'. The speaker is processing their thoughts as they speak, but the mouth is already in gear and the brain can't keep up!

 

Back when I was in the RAF, we had to attend annual Ground Defence Training (GDT) with the RAF Regiment.  Some of the Rocks  (RAF Regiment types were affectionately called "rock apes") were not natural instructors.  They had all attended a Ground Instructor Training course (GIT) and a Weapons Instructor Training course (WIT).   The GIT course provided a lot of useful insights.  One of them was never to say "um..." or "ah..."  If you needed to gather your thoughts, find another word that would could be used instead.  

 

One of the instructors at my final unit settled on the word "erstwhile".  I'm not convinced that he actually knew what it meant but it would use it liberally while instructing which tended to utterly mangle the meaning of most things he said. 

 

I'll let you all speculate on the abbreviation of the Technical Instructor Training course.

[Retired Bob]

6 minutes ago, Enzo the Magnificent said:

 (RAF Regiment types were affectionately called "rock apes")

No affection was implied, in my experience, they only joined the RAF because they couldn't spell ARMY. 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

31 minutes ago, Enzo the Magnificent said:

RAF Regiment types were affectionately called "rock apes"

 

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about the origin of the nickname.

 

In the past the nickname "Rock Ape" has been attributed to their traditional role guarding areas of Gibraltar, but this is not so. The term came into use after an accident in the Western Aden Protectorate in November 1952. Two RAF Regiment officers serving with the Aden Protectorate Levies at Dhala decided to amuse themselves by going out to shoot some of the hamadryas baboons (locally referred to as "rock apes"). The officers drew rifles and split up to hunt the apes. In the semi-darkness one of the officers fired at a moving object in the distance. When he reached the target he discovered he had shot the other officer. After emergency treatment Flight Lieutenant Percy Henry Mason survived to return to service a few months later. When asked by a board of inquiry why he had fired at his friend the officer replied that his target had "looked just like a rock ape" in the half light. The remark soon reverberated around the RAF and it was not long before the term was in general use.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Regiment

[PLC1966]

2 hours ago, pigsty said:

I doubt it.  The country we know as Tunisia is called Tooneesha over there.

Did catch me out when hearing the Cousins talking about 'Turk eye yea'  when referring to local Turkish customs. 

 

 

I also find the fact that everybody who appears on some rubbish reality TV show has undergone 'a journey'.  Where on earth did this come from?

[Retired Bob]

30 minutes ago, Retired Bob said:

in my experience, they only joined the RAF because they couldn't spell ARMY. 

After I retired from the RAF, I became a driver for the MoD.  One evening I was required to convey several RAF servicemen from RAF Leeming to the airhead at RAF Brize Norton so they could catch flights.  I picked up all the other passengers but the RAF Regiment Officers were no where to be found.  Eventually I tracked them down, They had decided to wash all their clothes a couple of hours before travelling and had coerced a couple of women to iron everything dry so it could be packed.  Definitely  Rock Ape officer material. 

[Admiral Puff]

40 minutes ago, Enzo the Magnificent said:

 

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about the origin of the nickname.

 

In the past the nickname "Rock Ape" has been attributed to their traditional role guarding areas of Gibraltar, but this is not so. The term came into use after an accident in the Western Aden Protectorate in November 1952. Two RAF Regiment officers serving with the Aden Protectorate Levies at Dhala decided to amuse themselves by going out to shoot some of the hamadryas baboons (locally referred to as "rock apes"). The officers drew rifles and split up to hunt the apes. In the semi-darkness one of the officers fired at a moving object in the distance. When he reached the target he discovered he had shot the other officer. After emergency treatment Flight Lieutenant Percy Henry Mason survived to return to service a few months later. When asked by a board of inquiry why he had fired at his friend the officer replied that his target had "looked just like a rock ape" in the half light. The remark soon reverberated around the RAF and it was not long before the term was in general use.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Regiment

If I was a hamadryas baboon I'd take strong exception to that ...

[pigsty]

1 hour ago, PLC1966 said:

Did catch me out when hearing the Cousins talking about 'Turk eye yea'  when referring to local Turkish customs.

That's because Turkey has recently taken to calling itself Turkiye in international relations as well as at home.  Unusual for the Yanks actually to change their usage and get it right.  I still occasionally hear one of them mentioning Qatar and it comes out more like Kuddr ... which I suppose isn't much worse than Catarrh.

[Alan P]

Still surprised me that Gloucester, Massachusetts is pronounced properly, I expected it to be called 'Glowsester' or something, along the lines of other US cities named after better known world counterparts, like Cairo, Illinois (Kay-ro) or Madrid, NY (Maad-rud).