The "Ality" brigade.

[Bullbasket]

A lot of trivia just goes over my head now, as at my age, I can't be bothered. But there's one thing that does really annoy me, and that's people on TV, who because they can't express themselves properly, resort to adding "ality" on the end of words. Latest one this morning on BBC Breakfast was "conditionality". What?? What's wrong with just saying "condition".

 

John.

[flyboy2610]

It makes them sound (so they think) more intelligent than they actually are.

[Mr T]

I think it's the same sort of speech affectation that turns nouns into verbs. 

[John Tapsell]

It adds to the totality of the statement

[flyboy2610]

2 hours ago, Mr T said:

I think it's the same sort of speech affectation that turns nouns into verbs. 

Like " Hoover" ?

[brewerjerry]

Hi

    at one time i remember in the uk  some people adding   ' age ' to some words

    mind you here in canada they throw a random '  s '  onto words

    cheers

       jerry 

   

 

 

[PLC1966]

46 minutes ago, flyboy2610 said:

Like " Hoover" ?

Hooverality shurely.....

[Karearea]

9 hours ago, Mr T said:

I think it's the same sort of speech affectation that turns nouns into verbs. 

It’s adjectives into nouns that infuriates me. Referring to solar panels as ‘solar’ for example. ‘Oh I need to install some solar on my house’. Solar what!?

 

That said, my son used to talk about ‘lawning the grass’, which has become the default phrase here whenever the grass exhibits overgrownality.

[flyboy2610]

44 minutes ago, Karearea said:

 

 

That said, my son used to talk about ‘lawning the grass’, which has become the default phrase here whenever the grass exhibits overgrownality.

And requires mowification.

Edited April 30, 2024 by flyboy2610

[3DStewart]

On 4/30/2024 at 2:29 AM, Karearea said:

It’s adjectives into nouns that infuriates me. Referring to solar panels as ‘solar’ for example. ‘Oh I need to install some solar on my house’. Solar what!?

 

Solar also means sun, which is definitely a noun. Its use is really no different from the way petrol is used, as in petrol engine or "is the fleet going petrol or diesel?"

I would say that solar panel is a bit of a sloppy phrase. Are you describing a panel making use of the thermal effect of the sun, or a panel making use of the photo effect of the sun?

Or is this too much banality?

 

 

Edited May 1, 2024 by 3DStewart

[IanHx]

My individuality is the causality of me posting this banality irrespective of the consequentialality

[Ray S]

16 hours ago, PLC1966 said:

Hooverality shurely.....

 

And don't call me shurely!

 

Ray

 

PS, Someone had to say it

[Mr T]

18 hours ago, flyboy2610 said:

Like " Hoover" ?

Good point, although I tend not to use 'Hoover' as we have a Shark vacuum cleaner (I am a literal soul when I put my mind to it). No, I don't say 'I will do the Sharking'. I will say I'll do the  vacuuming' on the grounds it is in  common usage. Like most of the English language it makes no sense. 

[John Tapsell]

12 hours ago, 3DStewart said:

 

I would say that solar panel is a bit of a sloppy phrase. Are you describing a panel making use of the thermal effect of the sun, or a panel making use of the photo effect of the sun?

 

Photovoltaic panels doesn't trip off the tongue quite so easily though

[3DStewart]

16 hours ago, John Tapsell said:

Photovoltaic panels doesn't trip off the tongue quite so easily though

 

But 'PV' does, and that's probably why it's become the standard term in construction and estates management.

 

Edited May 1, 2024 by 3DStewart

[John Tapsell]

23 minutes ago, 3DStewart said:

 

But 'PV' does, and that's probably why its become the standard term in construction and estates management.

Agreed - we've been involved in a couple of PV tenders over the years.

[Noel Smith]

I have recently bought a Hoover washing machine, but can see no improvement in the floor cleanliness in our house!   Lol.

Funny how terms become generic as in vacuum cleaning, many refer to it as 'Put the Hoover around'. It's a term used in our house since the year dot, although never ever having owned a Hoover Vacuum cleaner. I

Car polishing compounds for cleaning up faded paintwork tend to get generally referred to as 'T Cut' no matter what brand of is as another example.

Americanisms creeping into our everyday speech on TV and radio and elsewhere. Centre being spelt center as in Plumb Center and Center Parcs. Autopsy instead of Post Mortem......The list goes on.   

Don't get me started on Halloween that over the last 20 of so years has almost replaced out traditional Guy Fawkes day as the dates are so close. You only have to see all the cheap tat being sold running up to the end of October as a testament to being a celebration of commercialism rather than All Hallows Eve.

Do people now not understand what a railway station is? Or do we assume that people are now so illiterate that for clarification we need to call it a train station. Isn't it obvious that the term railway does not mean that it is a place to catch buses?

And the term 'Enjoy'!  Where the heck did that term originate?        Enjoy what?  That we are still alive?  Live in the UK?  Got an increase in  salary? The latest Tamiya kit?  Enjoy what exactly?

 

[Mike]

6 minutes ago, Noel Smith said:

Enjoy what exactly?

Moaning? Could be

[RAF4EVER]

Have a nice day [tongue in cheek]

[Noel Smith]

Just a  British view.      It's called irony Mike !  

 

Thanks RAF forever. I will have a nice (tongue in cheek) day!

Funnilly your post reminded me of a visit to a Big Mac's a number of years back.

As we were leaving one of the assistants said 'Missing you alteady' and could not understand why my 2 kids started rolling about in laughter!

[Enzo the Magnificent]

44 minutes ago, Noel Smith said:

Don't get me started on Halloween that over the last 20 of so years has almost replaced out traditional Guy Fawkes day as the dates are so close.

 

 

I blame Steven Spielberg.  All the "trick or treat" nonsense was never a thing in the UK until E.T. came along. 

[John Tapsell]

48 minutes ago, Noel Smith said:

Funny how terms become generic as in vacuum cleaning, many refer to it as 'Put the Hoover around'. It's a term used in our house since the year dot, although never ever having owned a Hoover Vacuum cleaner. I

Car polishing compounds for cleaning up faded paintwork tend to get generally referred to as 'T Cut' no matter what brand of is as another example.

 

You forgot 'Airfix kits' - as they are commonly referred to by anyone outside the hobby.

 

It's all about proportionality

[Mike]

I watch a fair few documentaries about WWII, military stuff, disasters and strange things.  I'm constantly amazed by how many of them make words up as they go along, even when there's a perfectly suitable real word already available.  They also use words that sound similar, like some cosmic nod to Mrs Malaprop from comedy shows gone by.  These folks are supposed to be intelligent people, and some of them have doctorates and Ph.Ds, and yet they still can't speak the freshly-minted King's English.  They're not all American either.  Then there's my old favourite, how many people pontificating, or even engaged in the nuclear industry that can't say the word correctly.  It's not Nukular, it's nuclear.  Just say the words "new" and "clear" very quickly in succession without a space .  It's not rocket science   Why don't the directors mention it?  Lack of botherality?

[3DStewart]

I rather like 'center', as it's how you say it.  It also makes it consistent with outer, counter, later and so on.  I also prefer sidewalk to pavement as it properly describes the object.

 

That's the universality of my argument.  Later I'll be travelling to the Principality, or have I just used both those correctly?  In which case is there any rationality to this thread?

 

 

Edited May 1, 2024 by 3DStewart
Additional pedantry

[RAF4EVER]

England and America, 2 countries separated by a common language:

 

https://www.google.nl/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2010/nov/26/americanisms-english-mind-your-language&ved=2ahUKEwj1x_b4x-yFAxUm3wIHHXrLA90QFnoECBoQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3BnHWN-dDm-o0-F9vbRTGs