1. 'Rammed' for 'packed tight.' Clearly a fashionable usage - noticed several examples over the last year or so. Anybody any idea where it comes from?

2. Why are what I used to call 'Oxford University', 'Birmingham University' etc. now pompously called 'The University of (Oxford, Birmingham etc.)'? I wondered whether it's because there are now often more than one university in many large towns, but surely they would be quite clearly distinguished if one said 'Oxford/Birmingham University' and 'Oxford Brookes/Birmingham City University', as we used to?

3. And why, in London, have Queen Mary, Goldsmiths and Birkbeck decided to drop 'College' from their names? Sounds silly to me. OK, they can now award their own degrees rather than those of London University - but so can King's, UCL and Imperial, all of which are proud to continue to be called 'Colleges'.

This post was last modified: 16-03-2014 01:56 PM by robin orton.