The SO virus

RE: The SO virus

grumpyoldman — Sun, 23 Oct 2016 21:56:14 GMT

I just thought it was too much sound of music as a child "a note to follow far" etc. It will be interesting to see what happens when several years of TOWIE and that other saga of beautiful people on the Wirral "Hollyoaks" takes root.

RE: The SO virus

Hannah Wynne Richards — Sun, 23 Oct 2016 09:03:48 GMT

Instead of minding my Ps and Qs, I failed to mind my Ps and Cs. Oops!

Wynne

RE: The SO virus

Martin Atkinson — Sat, 22 Oct 2016 18:49:49 GMT

[quote user="Stephen Pointing"]I still it's worth fighting a bit of a rear-guard action. I don't think we're thought of as stuck up, pedantic snobs - more a case of "what's the old f**t rabbiting on about now" [/quote]I have no choice but to keep up with da yoof, my daughters won't let me get old and their friends think I'm the coolest dad in the world and want me to adopt them so that's something I have to live up to. And my nurses refuse to let me be old because they don't want me to retire and sell them down the swanny to a corporate! My wife thinks I'm a sad d*ck and almost wants me to be old and senile - not sure what her motivation is for that!

RE: The SO virus

Julian Earl — Sat, 22 Oct 2016 16:10:24 GMT

Is it inappropriate to say "So What?"

RE: The SO virus

Anthony Todd — Sat, 22 Oct 2016 15:32:04 GMT

[quote user="Bob Russell"]The up is not just redundant, it is wrong![/quote]

Well it should be "The "up" is...." for a start but to continue.

The "up" is really necessary in the colloquial ***k "up" as without the "up" things get misunderstood seriously.

RE: The SO virus

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Sat, 22 Oct 2016 14:39:15 GMT

[quote user="Hannah Wynne Richards"] Evelyn and I are old enough to remember when gay meant cheerful, and wicked meant bad,[/quote]

They still do.

[quote user="Hannah Wynne Richards"] but I think that Paxton's invention of printing has slowed the rate of evolution of formal English. Shakespeare is still perfectly intelligible, whilst Chaucer from 2 centuries earlier is not.[/quote]

A very good and interesting point.

But Paxton didn't invent printing, though he built some pretty good glasshouses in the nineteenth century.

The Chinese invented movable type, some centuries before Gutenberg re-invented it – and, arguably, invented the printing press. William Caxton learnt printing from Gutenberg and brought it to England.

RE: The SO virus

Bob Russell — Sat, 22 Oct 2016 10:57:25 GMT

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]

The UP virus is endemic.

"Franklin Scrimshaw heads up the Customer Duplicity Department....." He just heads it. Or, better, he is the head of it. The "up" is redundant.

As in "park up", "listen up" ...........

[/quote]

The up is not just redundant, it is wrong! To give someone the heads up is a correct expression but someone heads a department.

Pedants pedantry?

RE: The SO virus

Hannah Wynne Richards — Sat, 22 Oct 2016 08:40:25 GMT

My Latin master used to say that English was a mixture of slang Latin and slang German. Canine, feline, and equine all have Latin roots. He would start every lesson by asking us to identify modern words ( either English, Welsh or French) which were related to that lesson's vocabulary.

Language, especially slang does evolve. Evelyn and I are old enough to remember when gay meant cheerful, and wicked meant bad, but I think that Paxton's invention of printing has slowed the rate of evolution of formal English. Shakespeare is still perfectly intelligible, whilst Chaucer from 2 centuries earlier is not.

Wynne

RE: The SO virus

Gillian Mostyn — Sat, 22 Oct 2016 07:41:37 GMT

[quote user="J G Wray"]1000 years ago we would have been speaking a form of French at times.[/quote]

We still do. We just think it's English. (Pork and beef are good examples!)

RE: The SO virus

J G Wray — Sat, 22 Oct 2016 03:37:31 GMT

[quote user="Gillian Mostyn"]

Incorrect use of words does bug me- such as saying 'one foul swoop' etc. However, in general, you have to remember that the English language is an evolving creature. Otherwise, compared to how they spoke 500 years ago, we'd all be 'talking wrong!...

[/quote]

500 years ago:

"."There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it SO". - (Act II, Scene II Hamlet).

1000 years ago we would have been speaking a form of French at times. What does, "Alors..... " mean?

RE: The SO virus

Stephen Pointing — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 19:37:18 GMT

I still it's worth fighting a bit of a rear-guard action. I don't think we're thought of as stuck up, pedantic snobs - more a case of "what's the old f**t rabbiting on about now" - but in a caring and amused sort of way. At least that's what I like to think.

We might be going back to a pound of plums when we've finally brexited - that'll really confuse anyone below the age of about 50.

RE: The SO virus

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 18:28:50 GMT

[quote user="Lucy Fleming"]

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]The "up" is redundant.[/quote]

You would love the redundant 'Somerset to' - for example 'where's that to?' rather than 'where's that?' or 'where are you to?' when 'where are you?' would suffice.

[/quote]

Ah, that's Somerset dialect, moy luvver, and I love it. "Whurr's it tu?"

RE: The SO virus

Hannah Wynne Richards — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 18:03:16 GMT

My pet hate is dropped hs. I always have to resist the urge to giggle when I hear " 'art attack" I imagine this painting leaping off the wall, and braining somebody.

Wynne

RE: The SO virus

Lucy Fleming — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 17:57:42 GMT

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]The "up" is redundant.[/quote]

You would love the redundant 'Somerset to' - for example 'where's that to?' rather than 'where's that?' or 'where are you to?' when 'where are you?' would suffice.

RE: The SO virus

Martin Atkinson — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 17:52:05 GMT

[quote user="Stephen Pointing"]My practice manager and I (or should that be me?) are both a bit pedantic when it comes to the correct use of English which doesn't always make us that popular with other members of staff. But we were both brought up it the days when English language was properly taught in schools and you actually had to do an "O" level in the subject.[/quote]Da yoof of today say me for I so you should be OK either way. I suspect you are fighting a losing battle. Estuary English is becoming the standard, even the Queen doesn't speak the Queen's English anymore. I suspect your staff both think you're a pair of stuck up, pedantic snobs. Times move on. Even you must think just how strange it is listening to old newsreels with the orators sounding like they've swallowed a pound (sorry 0.45 kg) of plums.

My nurses think I'm cool and pretty fly for a 66 year old* because I was wearing a hoodie and singing Offspring today (at least that's what they told me!) and I let them be themselves.

* if you don't get that then you are an old fart!

RE: The SO virus

Gillian Mostyn — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 15:23:46 GMT

RE: The SO virus

Stephen Pointing — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 15:23:13 GMT

Now you are straying into dangerous territory - the world of feminism! People who object to the word chairman don't really understand that it is sex neutral - all they see is the word "man". The word mankind, for example, includes all the sexes, all the ages, all the races, all the religious groups etc in one very neat and simple word. I get really annoyed when I am singing very well known hymns and carols - which I know by heart from my youth - and then find the words on the hymn sheet have been changed to "accommodate" today's politically correct gender agenda.

RE: The SO virus

Thomas Johnson — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 14:35:16 GMT

[quote user="Stephen Pointing"]My personal bugbear is when I am asked to fill out a form rather than filling it in.[/quote]

Why do so many insurance forms that specify that they need to be signed by a veterinary surgeon then ask for my 'position in the practice'. I am very tempted to write 'sitting in the consulting room', but I suspect that won't help with getting them to pay so I write 'veterinary surgeon'.

RE: The SO virus

Timothy Miles — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 14:26:37 GMT

There must be 50 years worth more of this thread for us pedants.

Fancy calling someone a " Chair" and a female performer an actor !!!!!

RE: The SO virus

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 14:21:37 GMT

The UP virus is endemic.

"Franklin Scrimshaw heads up the Customer Duplicity Department....." He just heads it. Or, better, he is the head of it. The "up" is redundant.

As in "park up", "listen up" ...........

RE: The SO virus

Stephen Pointing — Fri, 21 Oct 2016 14:08:38 GMT

My personal bugbear is when I am asked to fill out a form rather than filling it in. I use the analogy of filing in a hole after it has been dug out. My practice manager and I (or should that be me?) are both a bit pedantic when it comes to the correct use of English which doesn't always make us that popular with other members of staff. But we were both brought up it the days when English language was properly taught in schools and you actually had to do an "O" level in the subject.

RE: The SO virus

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 17:08:45 GMT

Incredible. Amazing. A staggering......

RE: The SO virus

Anthony Todd — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 14:03:57 GMT

[quote user="Lucy Fleming"]

My current bugbear is that no-one seems to understand how to use 'flaunt' and 'flout' - keep seeing people writing about someone 'flaunting the regulations'

[/quote]

The VDS will flaunt the regulations given half a chance though.....

RE: The SO virus

Anthony Todd — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 13:53:53 GMT

[quote user="Gillian Mostyn"]

I literally hate people who use the word 'literally' incorrectly. I could literally kill them and use their intestines for skipping ropes.

[/quote]

Phew, that's me off the hook, for a moment in time there, i literally held my breath....

RE: The SO virus

Martin Atkinson — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 13:35:24 GMT

I hate people who say 'lets face it', but lets face it there are zillions of things that irritate us on a daily basis and this thread could go on forever until we invoke Godwin's Law. And I probably hate people who do that as well. Which means I hate myself. In addition, being as I'm a surgeon and all surgeons think they are God but I don't believe in God so that means I don't believe in myself. Is that blasphemy?