|
Source: (consider it)
|
Thread: Grammatical infelicities
|
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
|
Posted
Recently I spotted two ads:
"Attack the day with a bellyful of tasty"
and
"Find your happy with [company name]"
Which isn't verbing the noun so much as nouning the adjective. As advertising slogans, they certainly linger in the mind, although they're probably not that successful because I'd have to think a bit harder to remember the name of the products they were endorsing. They were sufficiently annoying for me to spend a short while thinking about the ad, which is probably the point.
Some people invariably claim at this point that "language evolves", but whether this sort of thing counts as evolution or a retrograde step isn't entirely clear. Anyway, I know some of you have come across phrases that annoy you in either their grammatical infelicities or lack of precision, or all three, so have at it a) going forward. Sorted!
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
|
Posted
"A quality product" to me sounds meaningless. All right, I presume that it is ellipsis for "high quality" ... but all products have quality, the question is whether that is good or poor!
I get annoyed on the TV weather forecasts by unnecessary adverbs (at least I think they are adverbs): "Bands of rain will be sinking down", "The winds will ease back" and the like.
[ 29. August 2016, 07:51: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
|
Posted
The notorious 'Are you beach body ready?' irritated me more for the grammar than the sexism. I could only make sense of it by putting a comma after 'you' and 'body' - and altering the pronounciation somewhat, so that it became an interrogation of some surfer dude cousin of Cheyenne Bodie.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
I get annoyed on the TV weather forecasts by unnecessary adverbs (at least I think they are adverbs): "Bands of rain will be sinking down", "The winds will ease back" and the like.
There's them as holds they're prepositions of direction. Aarrh.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
|
Posted
What's "state of the art"?
--------------------
"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
mdijon
Shipmate
# 8520
|
Posted
It's bleeding edge technology.
(Which always sounded like the feeder line for a Hancock sketch to me).
--------------------
mdijon nojidm uoɿıqɯ ɯqıɿou
ɯqıɿou uoɿıqɯ nojidm mdijon
Posts: 12277 | From: UK | Registered: Sep 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
Which isn't verbing the noun so much as nouning the adjective.
And then there's the evil scum that insist on adverbing the adjective.
"Eat Healthy!"
Eat healthy what? Eat healthy people?
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
| IP: Logged
|
|
Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Pigwidgeon:
What's "state of the art"?
It's a precise legal term in the intellectual property field, especially regarding patents. Elsewhere treat it with disdain.
--------------------
"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Lyda*Rose
Ship's broken porthole
# 4544
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
Which isn't verbing the noun so much as nouning the adjective.
And then there's the evil scum that insist on adverbing the adjective.
"Eat Healthy!"
Eat healthy what? Eat healthy people?
You are what you eat. ![[Devil]](graemlins/devil.gif)
--------------------
"Dear God, whose name I do not know - thank you for my life. I forgot how BIG... thank you. Thank you for my life." ~from Joe Vs the Volcano
Posts: 21377 | From: CA | Registered: May 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
|
Posted
The misplaced modifier reigns supreme these days, or so it seems.
One of our local TV stations is infamous for including typos and obvious grammatical bloopers in their news crawl.
This morning, for example, we were saddened to learn that "Olympic athlete sent to hospital with infection."
Yeah, we know those hospitals are hotbeds of bacteria, but why choose one that was known to be infected? Weren't there other infection-free hospitals in the area that the athlete could have chosen?
--------------------
"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
|
Posted
Ah, but the athlete, being an Olympic athlete, was clearly super-healthy, so s/he got sent on a mission to a hospital that was riddled with infection in order to counter-infect it with his or her own brand of Olympic healthiness. Obvs.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
mousethief
Ship's Thieving Rodent
# 953
|
Posted
The -d of the adjectival form of verbs is dying. Example: until quite recently we used to drink iced tea; now we drink ice tea. There are others.
--------------------
This is the last sig I'll ever write for you...
Posts: 63536 | From: Washington | Registered: Jul 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by mousethief:
The -d of the adjectival form of verbs is dying. Example: until quite recently we used to drink iced tea; now we drink ice tea.
You might, but we don't. The exception here is ice cream, which has been called that for decades.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by mousethief:
The -d of the adjectival form of verbs is dying. Example: until quite recently we used to drink iced tea; now we drink ice tea. There are others.
"Box sets" (of films etc.)
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
mousethief
Ship's Thieving Rodent
# 953
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
quote:
Originally posted by mousethief:
The -d of the adjectival form of verbs is dying. Example: until quite recently we used to drink iced tea; now we drink ice tea.
You might, but we don't. The exception here is ice cream, which has been called that for decades.
I have tried to google this to no avail. I know there are other examples but "adjectives ending in d" or "adjectives ending in ed" only give you vocabulary lists, not the blog entry I vaguely remember.
--------------------
This is the last sig I'll ever write for you...
Posts: 63536 | From: Washington | Registered: Jul 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
|
Posted
I hate dangling superlatives, like "House for sale, newer carpets." Though it probably would say "...newer carpet's." ![[Help]](graemlins/help.gif)
I also cannot abide common usage of the word "traditional" to refer to the habit of a single individual. In the Olympics, it was said of an athlete that he traditionally listened to <some song or other> before competing.
--------------------
Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
| IP: Logged
|
|
mousethief
Ship's Thieving Rodent
# 953
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet's flag is set so...:
I hate dangling superlatives, like "House for sale, newer carpets." Though it probably would say "...newer carpet's."
That's not superlative that's comparative. ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
quote:
I also cannot abide common usage of the word "traditional" to refer to the habit of a single individual. In the Olympics, it was said of an athlete that he traditionally listened to <some song or other> before competing.
That had never occurred to me but good call.
--------------------
This is the last sig I'll ever write for you...
Posts: 63536 | From: Washington | Registered: Jul 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet's flag is set so...:
I also cannot abide common usage of the word "traditional" to refer to the habit of a single individual. In the Olympics, it was said of an athlete that he traditionally listened to <some song or other> before competing.
It seems that in these parts, it takes about five minutes to establish a new "tradition". A few years ago, my church inaugurated a social evening for the church men. It was successful, and was repeated the following year, when it was advertised as "traditional".
quote:
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
| IP: Logged
|
|
HCH
Shipmate
# 14313
|
Posted
I sometimes dislike the improper use of "unique". Nothing can be more or less unique; it is sometime appropriate to say something is unique in some fashion among the members of some collection.
Posts: 1540 | From: Illinois, USA | Registered: Nov 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
|
Posted
Re the -ed being dropping. "used to" versus "use to", which used to mean different things.
--------------------
Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
| IP: Logged
|
|
Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
|
Posted
Ugh! what I hate hate HATE is the tendency to have direct objects perform the verb, as in "the new book released last Wednesday." No, it didn't, you dumbass, the publisher released it. What precisely do you think books release, pages? hot air?
--------------------
Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ferdzy
Shipmate
# 8702
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by HCH:
I sometimes dislike the improper use of "unique". Nothing can be more or less unique; it is sometime appropriate to say something is unique in some fashion among the members of some collection.
Along the same lines, for the last few years I have been hearing/seeing "one of the only".
NO NO NO. Either something is the only [one], or it isn't.
Posts: 252 | From: Ontario, Canada | Registered: Oct 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
mousethief
Ship's Thieving Rodent
# 953
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by HCH:
I sometimes dislike the improper use of "unique". Nothing can be more or less unique; it is sometime appropriate to say something is unique in some fashion among the members of some collection.
Very true.
(Augh! Something is either true or it's not. True does not admit of degrees!)
--------------------
This is the last sig I'll ever write for you...
Posts: 63536 | From: Washington | Registered: Jul 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
cornflower
Shipmate
# 13349
|
Posted
What about 'fresh' eggs? Well, I jolly well hope they are fresh. Surely they wouldn't be selling them otherwise? Or do they mean fresh as opposed to dried, pickled or powdered?
Also, I can't stand 'bin' having been turned into a verb...I know it was a catchy phrase encouraging people to dispose of their rubbish properly, which might be ok just used for that - but now everyone says 'bin it'. But for all I know, it does now count as a verb.
Posts: 111 | From: uk | Registered: Jan 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
mousethief
Ship's Thieving Rodent
# 953
|
Posted
I imagine "fresh eggs" is in the same category as "creamery butter." (The place where they make butter is called a "creamery" so it all is creamery butter.) Designed to sound good, as a selling point, but ultimately meaningless.
As a meta point, I dislike "That's not a word." It most certainly is a word. It's just a bad one. Examples include "irregardless" which sucks because it is an unnecessary synonym that etymologically is a double negative, and "ain't" which has better bona fides as a word than much of our current vocabulary, although you'd never use it in a resume (if you wanted the job) or college paper (if you wanted the grade).
I would ask my students: can you spell it? can you pronounce it? do you know what it means? then it's a word.
--------------------
This is the last sig I'll ever write for you...
Posts: 63536 | From: Washington | Registered: Jul 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
cornflower
Shipmate
# 13349
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by mousethief:
I imagine "fresh eggs" is in the same category as "creamery butter." (The place where they make butter is called a "creamery" so it all is creamery butter.) Designed to sound good, as a selling point, but ultimately meaningless.
As a meta point, I dislike "That's not a word." It most certainly is a word. It's just a bad one. Examples include "irregardless" which sucks because it is an unnecessary synonym that etymologically is a double negative, and "ain't" which has better bona fides as a word than much of our current vocabulary, although you'd never use it in a resume (if you wanted the job) or college paper (if you wanted the grade).
I would ask my students: can you spell it? can you pronounce it? do you know what it means? then it's a word.
I think perhaps it helps if you've done at least a little Latin and also learnt a couple of other languages as it makes you more aware of words' origins and how sentences are constructed. I think they are bringing back more formal grammar lessons in schools now which I think is a good thing. Not that I expect people to to use perfect grammar all the time (I certainly don't, but when you get even teachers making quite bad mistakes sometimes, it doesn't seem to bode very well.
A couple of years ago my grand-daughter brought home an English worksheet from primary school. I think she had to insert the right verbs or whatever, but anyhow, there was a glaring mistake on this paper. I really, really wanted to go into the school and point it out to the teacher, but as I'm the grandmother, not the parent, didn't feel it was my place. (I don't think, by the way, that the teacher had compiled these sheets, I think they were probably printed off from somewhere else, but even so, it irritated me).
Posts: 111 | From: uk | Registered: Jan 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
|
Posted
Ah, the food-pimping adjective. In the UK, it's often attaching a County name to, usually, ham. Wiltshire Ham suggest ham from happy pigs roaming the Cotswolds before being cured in the rafters of yeoman farmhouses. Whereasthe reality is more likely an abbatoir in Swindon.
Some counties have more cachet than others: I don't think I've seen any charcuterie trying to attract me by claiming to be from Essex or Cleveland.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
mousethief
Ship's Thieving Rodent
# 953
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
"A quality product" to me sounds meaningless. All right, I presume that it is ellipsis for "high quality" ... but all products have quality, the question is whether that is good or poor!
I agree, but I fear this horse left the barn decades ago. ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
--------------------
This is the last sig I'll ever write for you...
Posts: 63536 | From: Washington | Registered: Jul 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Teekeey Misha
Shipmate
# 18604
|
Posted
My greatest linguistic loathing is the lack of agreement between subject and verb, particularly where collective nouns are concerned. I know "linguists say it's correct nowadays" but they're wrong! It was incorrect for a reason and the reason is as valid today as it was last century. I rather suspect the BBC has made a conscious decision to start treating collective nouns as plurals, because this misuse began quite suddenly in Auntie's broadcasting and it now seems to have become standard. Immediately afterwards, of course, you can probably hear me (wherever you are in the world) yelling at the wireless/TV...
"The Government are planning educational reforms." IS PLANNING!
"England are playing at Lords today." IS PLAYING!
"The BBC are broadcasting grammatical horrors." IS BROADCASTING!
"The Household Cavalry are escorting the Queen." IS ESCORTING!
Edited because I can do grammar but not, apparently, typing.
[ 29. August 2016, 23:12: Message edited by: Teekeey Misha ]
--------------------
Misha
Don't assume I don't care; sometimes I just can't be bothered to put you right.
Posts: 296 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2016
| IP: Logged
|
|
Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ferdzy:
quote:
Originally posted by HCH:
I sometimes dislike the improper use of "unique". Nothing can be more or less unique; it is sometime appropriate to say something is unique in some fashion among the members of some collection.
Along the same lines, for the last few years I have been hearing/seeing "one of the only".
NO NO NO. Either something is the only [one], or it isn't.
And the whole repertoire of "Various differences". If there are differences then there will be a variety of them.
(If someone can find an excuse for this let me know, because it drives me spare)
--------------------
"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Teekeey Misha:
"The BBC are broadcasting grammatical horrors." IS BROADCASTING!
If that was a direct quote from the Beeb, it would most likely be, "BBC are broadcasting..." For some reason they've decided to drop the definite article from the names of countries and organizations. So "United States have sent troops..." and "World Health Organization issued a statement..."
Anyhow, that irritation aside, my current pet hate is computer software trying to be friendly and trendy. I don't want to press a button marked "OK" and be taken to a menu where the options begin with "My..." and have the option to "Learn more". I'm not a child. Don't talk down to me.
[ 30. August 2016, 16:36: Message edited by: Ariel ]
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Teekeey Misha:
My greatest linguistic loathing is the lack of agreement between subject and verb, particularly where collective nouns are concerned.
"The Government are planning educational reforms." IS PLANNING!
"England are playing at Lords today." IS PLAYING!
"The BBC are broadcasting grammatical horrors." IS BROADCASTING!
"The Household Cavalry are escorting the Queen..." IS ESCORTING!
To what extent is this wrong? Although I agree with you, can I play Devil's Advocate and contend that there is an ellipsis in most of these sentences:
"(Ministers in the Government) are planning ..."
"(The eleven members of the) England (cricket team) are playing ..."
"(Mounted troops from) the Household Cavalry are escorting ...".
But I see no way of making the esteemed Corporation into a plural; being even more impersonal than the other entities it simply has to remain singular.
[ 30. August 2016, 16:43: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
Teekeey Misha
Shipmate
# 18604
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
To what extent is this wrong? Although I agree with you, can I play Devil's Advocate and contend that there is an ellipsis in most of these sentences:
I don't think they are particularly examples of ellipsis - at least not deliberately. If they had said, "Ministers of the Government" then it would be plural and "are" would be correct. When broadcasters refer to "The Government", though, they are not employing ellipsis to remove superfluous words; they are referring to the singular entity that is "the Government."
[ 30. August 2016, 17:00: Message edited by: Teekeey Misha ]
Posts: 296 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2016
| IP: Logged
|
|
andras
Shipmate
# 2065
|
Posted
Free Range Eggs!
Walked round on their own, did they?
--------------------
God's on holiday.
(Why borrow a cat?)
Adrian Plass
Posts: 544 | From: Tregaron | Registered: Dec 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Teekeey Misha:
When broadcasters refer to "The Government", though, they are not employing ellipsis to remove superfluous words; they are referring to the singular entity that is "the Government."
It has for a long time been acceptable in British English to use either singular or plural verbs with most collective nouns.
"The Government" in most contexts is used to refer to the political actions of Her Majesty's Government (a collective entity) rather than to denote the strictly singular political/legal concept.
So if you're talking about the actions of HMG, "The Government are" is acceptable. If you're talking about the structure of the government, you are obliged to say "The government is comprised of ..."
ETA: The distinction between singular and plural verb forms for behaviours attributed to the collective entity en masse rather than the individual members of that entity seems to be a little stronger in American usage.
[ 30. August 2016, 17:17: Message edited by: Leorning Cniht ]
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
| IP: Logged
|
|
Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by andras:
Free Range Eggs!
Walked round on their own, did they?
Worse: "Free Range Pork Sausages" (or, sometimes, "Outdoor Bred Pork Sausages" - all those little chipolatas galloping around the field).
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Teekeey Misha
Shipmate
# 18604
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
It has for a long time been acceptable in British English to use either singular or plural verbs with most collective nouns.
That's just it; I don't think it has been acceptable for a long time. I'm sure people have done it for a long time but it's only relatively recently that it has become acceptable; certainly it is only recently that the Beeb has started doing it. Rather like splitting infinitives and ending sentences with a preposition, people have recently decided "Oh, it doesn't really matter, because people have always done it."
--------------------
Misha
Don't assume I don't care; sometimes I just can't be bothered to put you right.
Posts: 296 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2016
| IP: Logged
|
|
Teekeey Misha
Shipmate
# 18604
|
Posted
Oh, and whilst I'm in moaning mode...
"Literally." Even as I wrote my last post, the BBC weatherman said:
quote:
Here's a picture of Norfolk; isn't it beautiful? I can literally almost feel the spray on that beach.
What? It's bad enough that he thinks he can "literally" feel the spray from a photograph taken hundreds of miles away. That he thinks he can "literally almost feel" it is even worse.
--------------------
Misha
Don't assume I don't care; sometimes I just can't be bothered to put you right.
Posts: 296 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2016
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Teekeey Misha:
Rather like splitting infinitives and ending sentences with a preposition, people have recently decided "Oh, it doesn't really matter, because people have always done it."
Both those things are "rules" invented by people with an obsession with Latin grammar. Despite their best efforts, English isn't Latin, has never been Latin, and there's no reason to pretend that it is Latin.
Both "rules" are reasonable guidelines - it is usually better not to split an infinitive, and it is often better not to end a sentence with a preposition. But, as an example, trying to un-split "the number of split infinitives used in these pages is expected to more than double this week" does not aid clarity, and is nonsense up with which I will not put.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
| IP: Logged
|
|
Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
|
Posted
Isn't 'The government comprises' better?
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Teekeey Misha
Shipmate
# 18604
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
Both "rules" are reasonable guidelines - it is usually better not to split an infinitive, and it is often better not to end a sentence with a preposition.
Adding clarity and elegance are the key; I would never suggest either the infinitives or preposition "rules" as being unbreakable because it is sometimes clearer and more elegant to break those rules. That, though, was not the reason suggested for abandoning subject-verb agreement and just as well, too, since it does neither.
Posts: 296 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2016
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
Isn't 'The government comprises' better?
Perhaps. "Is comprised of" has a long pedigree in English, for all that the purists tend to poke at it, but "comprises" is certainly OK.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
| IP: Logged
|
|
Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
|
Posted
Different subject. Wiltshire Ham is not made up like Lochmuir Salmon in M&S, it is a genuine form of ham. I have actually seen it on the hoof, in fields, south of the Cotswolds, which are not in Wiltshire. Wiltshire Cure
I will avoid the traditional family joke about cured meat.
Though it is not in the article, I think there was an association in the area between dairy farming (and I think creamery butter means not factory butter, not blended from various sources) and pig farming, since the pigs could be fed on whey and buttermilk, otherwise waste products.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
Isn't 'The government comprises' better?
Perhaps. "Is comprised of" has a long pedigree in English, for all that the purists tend to poke at it, but "comprises" is certainly OK.
I tend to think 'comprised of' to be estate agent speak. It was one of my Dad's bugbears.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Spike
Mostly Harmless
# 36
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Teekeey Misha:
Oh, and whilst I'm in moaning mode...
"Literally." Even as I wrote my last post, the BBC weatherman said:
quote:
Here's a picture of Norfolk; isn't it beautiful? I can literally almost feel the spray on that beach.
What? It's bad enough that he thinks he can "literally" feel the spray from a photograph taken hundreds of miles away. That he thinks he can "literally almost feel" it is even worse.
A few years ago I overheard a young woman on the train telling a friend how she had just dumped her boyfriend. The sentence I particularly remember is "I literally grew a pair of bollocks and told him"
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
One that annoys me is people in shops/pubs/restaurants who say "can I get ..." when ordering something
--------------------
"May you get to heaven before the devil knows you're dead" - Irish blessing
Posts: 12860 | From: The Valley of Crocuses | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Spike:
One that annoys me is people in shops/pubs/restaurants who say "can I get ..." when ordering something
"Can I get..."
"Sure, no worries."
The Metro's Rush Hour Crush section frequently has people saying "Let's grab a coffee." No, let's be polite and not snatch.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
Different subject. Wiltshire Ham
So it is. Let's stay with the evil that men do to grammar.
Firenze
Heaven Host
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Teekeey Misha
Shipmate
# 18604
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
...south of the Cotswolds, which are not in Wiltshire.
The Cotswold Tourist Partnership would beg to differ here (scroll down to the third paragraph), as does the map here.
[ 30. August 2016, 19:38: Message edited by: Teekeey Misha ]
--------------------
Misha
Don't assume I don't care; sometimes I just can't be bothered to put you right.
Posts: 296 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2016
| IP: Logged
|
|
Printer-friendly view
