English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

[al_yrpal]

That American womans nasal drawl on Osmand navigation. Does anyone know how to change the voice? I fancy something like William Rees Mogg.

Al

[661-Pete]

Dates on cinema adverts. For example the announcer saying October 26. Not October the 26th. The missing th really grates.

Should be "26th October" anyway. US date order does my head in, especially when you can't tell which is intended. My present digital watch (Casio) doesn't have a dd/mm/yy option, only mm/dd/yy; also it insists on putting UK in the CET time zone. Think again, Casio-san!

[beardy]

Thanks for that Ray. Yes, it could be that we rely on convention to distinguish the sense in which the word is being used. I'm sure that there has been a shift in that convention though, hence my confusion. Most of the Guardian journalists are now 16 year old Saturday boys and girls so they might not understand the finer distinctions.

Perhaps they should employ 9 year olds instead.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ni ... 15-6713651

Horizon you dont happen to have a daughter Up North, do you?

[Mick F]

Saw today in Okehampton on an advertising board.

New Mini Clubman ........ go with your gut.

Absolutely awful.

[Psamathe]

One thing I find irritating (but more style than "language") is press reports where they anonymise the person being talked about by giving them a name and then saying "not their real name". So, for example, report today on a medical advance "An example of the technology’s power is provided by Moira Baker (not her real name), a 52-year-old former teacher who lives in Kew, London...." the report only discusses one individual case so why not just say "one patient receiving this treatment" ?

And is this develops I'm soon expecting "An example of the technology’s power is provided by Moira (not her real gender) Baker (not her real name), a 52-year-old (not her real age) former teacher (not her real job) who lives in Kew, London (not her real address)."

Same often on TV news when they are interviewing an anonymous source, they have to give the person a name and then not use the name further. Daft.

Ian

[al_yrpal]

Tip for Horizon…

Have you been affected by malapropisms at work?
You may be entitled to condensation.

Al.

[Graham]

Methodology is the study of method, hence the "-ology".
Now commonly misused in place of method or process. Dumbos!

Shambolic is a shambles of such huge proportions that it becomes a significant symbol.
( I think I invented it back in the 1970s and it seems to have caught on. )
Alas, now just misused as a playful elision of shambles and . .. er, well, you know. Dumbos!

[Audax67]

Fail instead of failure. TV game-show-speak deployed by morons.

[Psamathe]

"Stakeholder". Dreadful modern term.

(I hope I'm not repeating myself here; or repeating anybody else).

Ian

[Ray]

Fail instead of failure. TV game-show-speak deployed by morons.

I take your word for it

[Graham]

Politicians wilfully demean themselves with this repetitive garbage :-

"Doing the right thing."
". . .hard working families . . . "
"Lessons have been learned."

Dumbos !

[Psamathe]

Politicians wilfully demean themselves with this repetitive garbage :-

"Doing the right thing."
". . .hard working families . . . "
"Lessons have been learned."

Dumbos !

I agree. Every time I hear some smug politician starting on "Making difficult Decisions ..." all I can think is that we don't need "difficult decisions" we need "good decisions". We've experienced of plenty of "difficult decisions" and had a decided lack of "good decisions".

Ian

[fishfright]

Mostly its complaints that the English language isn't what it used to be .....

Its annoying because it never was and never will stay the same. Our language has an amazing ability to evolve freely and absorb new ideas and word forms . That is the beauty of English.

Académie Française, compare and contrast.

[Neilo]

Pronouncing Skedule rather than Schedule.

An particularly on cycling forums
It is Brake (the things that you stop your bike) not break

Neil

[simonineaston]

separate issue, really, i.e. not sloppy use, nor new, but anyone who begins a conversation with, "To be absolutely honest with you..." or similar phrases, kind-of implies that they're lying most of the time!