edwin_m
Veteran Member
A colleague was on the way to a conference at Leeds University, and asked the bus driver at the station "do you go to the University"? "No, I drive a bus".
I think it’s Fowler. Used to be “The Kings English”. Now Modern English Usage.Nope. The Oxford English Dictionary is descriptive (it notes how other people use the langauge) rather than prescriptive (creating the rules of how people should use the language). There's no such body (like the Académie Francaise) for English.
"The organisation is headed up by Mr. X" ("up" is superfluous / unnecessary)
That’s brilliant.A colleague was on the way to a conference at Leeds University, and asked the bus driver at the station "do you go to the University"? "No, I drive a bus".
I always find a backward slash gets your feet unnecessarily wet.That's nearly as bad as an unnecessary space between a word and a forward slash.
Nope. The Oxford English Dictionary is descriptive (it notes how other people use the langauge) rather than prescriptive (creating the rules of how people should use the language). There's no such body (like the Académie Francaise) for English.
Do you think this may just be a shortening of “into”?"The train now arriving to Platform 14". (It may be going to somewhere, but it is arriving at that platform.)
That's nearly as bad as an unnecessary space between a word and a forward slash.
"Moneybags United suffered a defeat to Crewe Alexandra" (Should be by Crewe Alexandra)
Agree, superfluous/unnecessary is correct, but on my monitor it can be difficult to identify the separate words if they appear too small on screen, so I often add unnecessary extra spaces.
(And yes, I know I can make things appear larger on screen by using Windows "accessibility features", but that sometimes has adverse consequences with other software, for reasons I do not understand.)
(And yes, I know I can make things appear larger on screen by using Windows "accessibility features", but that sometimes has adverse consequences with other software, for reasons I do not understand.)
Sometimes necessary in a context such as a forum because the software won't line-break at anything except a space, so if you want to put one/two/three/four/five/six/seven/eight/nine/ten words together* it would move the whole lot onto the next line and look a bit odd. Worse still in something like Excel where the columns are often narrower and it just breaks the word anywhere if it doesn't fit in a cell and there is no space it can use to break. Word, and presumably other word processors, allows a special character that will create a break if necessary, but most people don't bother with it.That's nearly as bad as an unnecessary space between a word and a forward slash.
“Where’s n too”? Oh yes that’s a good local one.Regional variations can be confusing... when I moved to Taunton, new colleagues would say "oh, you just moved here... where's yours to?" which I couldn't even begin to comprehend... the clarification ("Your 'ouse, where's it TO?") didn't help either... My house doesn't go to anywhere! It took a few days for me to work out that Somerset folk, when asking for the location of anything, will stick a confusing and unnecessary preposition on the end!
Do you go 'up country' from Devon? Everywhere from Cornwall is 'up country' to the old Cornish, be it Plymouth, London or Moscow!“Where’s n too”? Oh yes that’s a good local one.
He doos it (instead of “he does it”) is another.
Yes everywhere is ‘up’, unless you’re going in the opposite direction - so to me Exmouth, Torquay, Plymouth, Cornwall etc are ‘down’.Do you go 'up country' from Devon? Everywhere from Cornwall is 'up country' to the old Cornish, be it Plymouth, London or Moscow!
Locals that are confused with geography will simply say ‘going’, as in “I’m going Okehampton tomorrow to buy a dug”...
You’re right too (although I had to look it up).As I understand it "dug" is synonymous with "udder" or "teat", are they sold separately in Okehampton?
“Fuze” for the explosive device though...If a bomb's fuse is faulty do you refuse it?
“Fuze” for the explosive device though...
This forum, or your web browser?Both are correct (this forum's spell checker indicates "fuze" to be incorrect)
This forum, or your web browser?
Drivers of two forklift trucks at my workplace drove them in such a way as to almost collide with each other. Of course, it had to be reported and investigated as a ‘near miss’. What an odd phrase... a miss is a miss. Shouldn’t it be termed a ‘near hit’ ?"It is more than my job's worth to [eg] let you ride without buying a ticket."
What is really meant is that it is less than the job is worth. Ie, keeping the job is more valuable than someone getting a free ride.
Ah, this old one again. Did they hit? No, they missed. Did they miss by a lot? No, they were quite near. Hence - a near miss.Drivers of two forklift trucks at my workplace drove them in such a way as to almost collide with each other. Of course, it had to be reported and investigated as a ‘near miss’. What an odd phrase... a miss is a miss. Shouldn’t it be termed a ‘near hit’ ?
Hence - a near miss.