Semantics

[Chris Newman]

Was he a badgor?

No, just a bodgor.....

[Chris Newman]

Was he a badgor?

No, just a bodgor.....

hadn't got a leg to stand on.

[Pabmusic]

So she goes ‘Watcher mean “’E goes”?, etc.

Or if they're from the West Midlands:

'So she goes ‘Watcher mean “’E goes” Innit?

An’ I go “Means ‘said’ dunnit?” Innit?.

An’ she goes “Aincha never read Fowler then?” Innit?

An’ I go “Wha’ever” Innit?'.

[kernelbogey]

Or if they're from the West Midlands:

An’ I go “Wha’ever” Innit?'.

Any Eskimos in the W Midlands, Pabmusic?

[Pabmusic]

Any Eskimos in the W Midlands, Pabmusic?

It's Inuit. Innit?

Or p'raps not ... Innit Inuit? Innit?

[burning dog]

Something you hear from older Londoners

"So I turn round to him and say.... Then he turns round to me and sez..."


Older people tend to write 'proper' even if they converse in this way.

[Serial_Apologist]

Something you hear from older Londoners

"So I turn round to him and say.... Then he turns round to me and sez..."

From experience, my guess is that this is because Londers in close proximity tend to spend most of their time facing away from each other, e.g. on the choob, so they have to turn round to address one-another.

[Serial_Apologist]

A major bugbear of mine is when politicians and businesspersons, in particular, use the expression "in perspective" when they mean - or, rather, don't mean, "in proportion". E.g. "We really need to keep the NHS cuts in perspective" - as in when the enormity of the effects are being kept under wraps.

Anyone can have (and usually does have) a perspective - only politians and business people lack any sense of proportion.

[burning dog]

From experience, my guess is that this is because Londers in close proximity tend to spend most of their time facing away from each other, e.g. on the choob, so they have to turn round to address one-another.

Could be.. I imagine two men facing the bar in one of those, mostly gone, tiny East End pubs.

[Segilla]

A few days ago, Peter White, the BBC's Disability Correspondent chided someone he was interviewing for using the term, 'the disabled'. We are now supposed to say 'disabled people'.

I think this is PC language take to excess.

There are many, many expressions such as 'the elderly'. 'the unemployed', 'the younger generation' and so on which seem equally harmless to me.

What do the others think?

[Lateralthinking1]

Julian Joseph last night. Cereeebral.

[Segilla]

Who decided that, for example, it is no longer 'La Traviata' but 'La traviata' (or 'The flying Dutchman' etc)?

Occasionally when reading newspapers, I find it confusing that a book title is not in quotes or italics.

It also used to be common to read of 'the Home Secretary', but nowadays the upper cases are omitted. This often upsets the flow when reading.

[Ferretfancy]

I love the fact that nowadays we all have to wear a badge defining our status. I was recently introduced to a young lady aged about nineteen. She wore her badge with pride ---
"Overseas Visitor Experience Coordinating Executive "

[Pabmusic]

I love the fact that nowadays we all have to wear a badge defining our status. I was recently introduced to a young lady aged about nineteen. She wore her badge with pride ---
"Overseas Visitor Experience Coordinating Executive "

How modern institutions love 'co-ordinators' almost as much as much as 'advisors'! (I'd forgotten 'co-ordinators' - another '-or' ending that no doubt has influenced 'advisor'. See post 132) "What do you do?" - "I co-ordinate things". Gives a purpose to life, doesn't it?

There is a process here. We used to call many of these people 'clerks' ('junior clerks', even), but now we give them titles that boost self-esteem by emphasising their purpose in the organisation. But they are usually only euphemisms for basically the same jobs. We hardly ever use the word 'clerk' any more; the result is that not only is 'clerk' devalued, but, over time, 'advisor' and 'co-ordinator' become so, since they do little more than describe the same work. (I freely admit here that I'm assuming here that 'co-ordinator' means something to begin with.) The result is that, now, three job titles are less useful than they once were.

And I won't say much about the thousands (millions, even) that a firm of consultants were paid for coming up with the titles in the first place.

[Mahlerei]

A few days ago, Peter White, the BBC's Disability Correspondent chided someone he was interviewing for using the term, 'the disabled'. We are now supposed to say 'disabled people'.

I think this is PC language take to excess.

There are many, many expressions such as 'the elderly'. 'the unemployed', 'the younger generation' and so on which seem equally harmless to me.

What do the others think?

It's the definite article, I suppose, which seems a little dismissive/anonymous. As a disabled person I would rather not be referred to as one of 'the disabled', in the same way that wives might bridle at 'the wife'.

On the question of changing styles in journalism the move to 'knock down' caps is actually designed to make the text easier to read, not more difficult. I always find it disconcerting to read some US newspaper headlines, for instance, with every word capped. That said, some caps need to be retained in the interests of clarity. I have no problem with home secretary (no doubt what that is), but I prefer Cabinet rather than cabinet when referring to government. Indeed, government rather than Government seems fine too.

La traviata is easily digested, and I still feel the move towards lower case - in line with the tendenct to be less deferential, perhaps - is better than a jumble of interruptive caps in columns of newsprint. In any event, papers/magazines use their own stye guides or borrow from others; we always used one produced by The Economist, which I grew to like very much. I do agree that book titles and the like should be italicised, though.

Properly trained subs don't seem to be an important part of the editorial chain any more, especially in the instantly publishable world of the Internet. That's a bit sad, almost like the passing of hot metal and the advent of DTP.