English Usage
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robin orton
Posts: 716
Joined: Feb 2009
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22-12-2013 02:07 PM
As US 'peek' seems to have driven out UK 'peep', so the (prudish?) US 'tidbits' clearly has designs on 'titbits' - see e.g. Mariella Frostrup in this morning's 'Observer.'
It's red squirrels and gray squirrels all over again.
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rshdunlop
Posts: 1,111
Joined: Jun 2008
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22-12-2013 02:20 PM
GrAy?
I agree about 'tidbits'. It does indeed come from the American media being prudish. And ridiculous.
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robin orton
Posts: 716
Joined: Feb 2009
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22-12-2013 02:40 PM
GrAy?
Silly me.
One thing that puzzles me about US culture (or those aspects of it which we are exposed to over here) are how it seems sometimes to be prudish and Victorian and sometimes monumentally coarse. Perhaps there are in fact separate sub-cultures which Europeans cannot always distinguish.
This post was last modified: 22-12-2013 02:49 PM by robin orton.
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rshdunlop
Posts: 1,111
Joined: Jun 2008
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22-12-2013 03:02 PM
Having lived there for a few years, I found that the television media especially was strangely prudish but that it didn't reflect most people's attitudes in real life. It's all a bit strange.
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gbrownings
Posts: 96
Joined: Aug 2012
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Perryman
Posts: 822
Joined: Dec 2006
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29-12-2013 04:15 AM
"shop's" might be an abbreviation for shoppes - a shoppe being a fancier and more expensive shop according to the urban dictionary.
"time's" might be an abbreviation for times and dates.
It might be it was just a deliberate play with the spelling to emphasize this was an informal fun post rather than an advert.
Should I have capitalised "shop's" and "time's"?
I really dunno.
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P1971
Posts: 816
Joined: Feb 2009
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29-12-2013 11:25 PM
This is the first time i've looked at this post, but no doubt I'll be picked up time and time again. Thank's last two poster's for not butchering me! I know I don't write proper English when I post, but I am Scottish and just post my feeling's rather than think about spelling's etc. Please don't have a go because I missed the h in Thursday on my last post title, it was a mistake I wasn't able to change.
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rshdunlop
Posts: 1,111
Joined: Jun 2008
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29-12-2013 11:53 PM
One thing I have learned over the years from frequenting online forums is to let go of my (once much prized) pedantry. Is P1971's use of apostrophes often wrong? Yes. Does that stop me understanding what she has written? No. I would only question punctuation on a forum if it made the meaning of what was written unclear.
P1971 - if you want to know what you've been doing wrong (as opposed to just being told you are wrong), it is mostly that you use an apostrophe where it's not needed in plural nouns. So in your last post, feeling's should just be feelings, and spelling's should just be spellings. You don't need the apostrophe when you add an s to indicate there is more than one of something (one shop, two shops).
I'm afraid your being Scottish is no defence, though!
This post was last modified: 29-12-2013 11:54 PM by rshdunlop.
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P1971
Posts: 816
Joined: Feb 2009
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30-12-2013 12:36 AM
rshdunlop - thank you so much for your honest and genuine post I really appreciate it.
The Scottish part was meant as a joke.
Hope you have a wonderful New Year.
Pauline
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Anotherjohn
Posts: 380
Joined: May 2005
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31-12-2013 03:49 PM
rshdunlop.
In my opinion, thats the perfect response.
Its obvious when someones making mistake's with their apostrophe's but who really care's when its better to simply read into what theyr'e saying.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
(HAPPY HOGMANAY TO P1971!)
P'S
I hope I have'nt made any mistake's with my use of apostophe's in this post.
This post was last modified: 31-12-2013 03:52 PM by Anotherjohn.
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robin orton
Posts: 716
Joined: Feb 2009
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31-12-2013 04:02 PM
[...] but who really care's when its better to simply read into what theyr'e saying.
And the same goes for split infinitives!
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Anotherjohn
Posts: 380
Joined: May 2005
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31-12-2013 04:10 PM
Done me like a kipper!
(That went - WHOOSH - straight over my empty head - not the foggiest idea!)
This post was last modified: 31-12-2013 04:14 PM by Anotherjohn.
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Erekose
Posts: 557
Joined: May 2010
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robin orton
Posts: 716
Joined: Feb 2009
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01-01-2014 04:46 PM
Yes, its an interesting article. The only one on the list I hadnt come across was 'amazeballs.' I shall be on the lookout for opportunities for using it - preferably combined with 'totes.'
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P1971
Posts: 816
Joined: Feb 2009
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01-01-2014 08:26 PM
Haha Anotherjohn
Happy Hogmanay to you and the family too. The best and only shop landlord in FH that is trying single handedly to give us locals what we want shop wise.
I know you won't tell me off for saying 2 more in the New Year, but no hairdressers or nail bars on D Rd. Interesting shops only!
If anyone has any ideas please tell.
Anotherjohn xxx P xxx
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robin orton
Posts: 716
Joined: Feb 2009
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01-01-2014 09:23 PM
On another matter, I noticed today that a BBC news bulletin called what I was brought up to call a 'railway station' a 'train station.' I remember first noticing this usage in the 1970s, soon after I moved to London from the Midlands, and from the context then I assumed it was London dialect and that 'railway station' remained the standard term. Recently however I have noticed its use increasing in more formal contexts. A little online research has suggested that it is in fact yet another Americanism. Ah well.
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Erekose
Posts: 557
Joined: May 2010
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18-01-2014 08:04 PM
Today today reported on the further decline of the apostrophe - in Cambridge of all places. It seems they confuse the emergency services for reasons which were not clear.
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robin orton
Posts: 716
Joined: Feb 2009
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18-01-2014 08:16 PM
Today today reported on the further decline of the apostrophe - in Cambridge of all places
.
Splendid. Quite in line with Cambridge's progressive traditions. (I expect that in Oxford the street names are still in Latin.)
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Erekose
Posts: 557
Joined: May 2010
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Mr_Numbers
Posts: 513
Joined: May 2012
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19-01-2014 08:45 AM
And the same goes for split infinitives!
Fowler's Modern English Usage (aka 'Fowler') has several pages on split infinitives. But it says quite clearly: "We will split infinitives sooner than be ambiguous or artificial..."
So in other words, there's nothing wrong with "To boldly go...". "Boldly to go..." and "To go boldly..." fail the "artificial" test, I reckon.
Now here's a treat for all us pedants: http://xkcd.com/386/
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