Room 101 - what single aspect of modern life should be consigned to oblivion?

[MickyD]

I would banish all the supposedly important sports stories (Harry Redknapp's court case, David Beckham etc) from the news channels, or at least have them put exclusively in the sports sections.

[Pabmusic]

Michael Quinion says that 'adviser' and 'advisor' are effectively interchangeable, although -er is more common in British English: http://www.affixes.org/o/-or1.html

I suspect that 'advisor' may be influenced in recent years by 'visor', which is not uncommon (motor bike helmets, etc).

[subcontrabass]

and of "-or" rather than "-er" at the end of certain words: eg Advisor.

Full OED gives "adviser" and "advisor" as established variant spellings with the same meanings. Citations from British sources are given for both spellings from every century from the sixteenth to the twenty-first.

[cloughie]

And all music, whether classical or pop is referred to as 'tracks' on the new- fangled things for storing CDs.

It would not be so bad if they were labelled up properly - when, particularly, boxed sets are labelled trying to sort out works is a nightmare. Also why when eg Amazon list CDs do they not include the catalogue number.

[Lateralthinking1]

Michael Quinion says that 'adviser' and 'advisor' are effectively interchangeable, although -er is more common in British English: http://www.affixes.org/o/-or1.htmlI suspect that 'advisor' may be influenced in recent years by 'visor', which is not uncommon (motor bike helmets, etc).

Visor? Rather than people just getting it wrong? I really don't think so.

I can say with hand on heart that I checked this out in the dictionary some years ago. There was only one spelling. If that has now changed, fair enough. Dictionary compilers respond. Useful for future generations. But if people are suddenly going to start spelling goat "gote" and in five years time the OED people say "gote" is equally good. Sorry. It's "goat" for me. I prefer to rely on the learning of centuries.

I don't think I'm all that hot in language skills. I'm not a linguist. Pretty rubbish on commas and paragraph breaks. I'm sure that there are many things I do wrong all the time. If a linguist rather than a modernist points it out to me, I'll happily accommodate it. There is though something you can "feel" with language based on observation and instinct.

[Flosshilde]

To me, "Advisor" is a person holding a position. "Adviser" is someone who is giving advice.

But isn't the person who holds the position of 'Advisor' the person who is giving advice, & is therefore an 'adviser'?

[Flosshilde]

The weather forecaster as Celebrity/Personality! Computer graphics everywhere, arms flailing, grinning, mugging, some of them 'singing' their text. And the ones who tell you at 18:00 what it was like at 08:00 in Arbroath

And an extremely inaccurate map of Britain, making Scotland appear the same size as Devon & Cornwall.

[MrGongGong]

And an extremely inaccurate map of Britain, making Scotland appear the same size as Devon & Cornwall. :rage:

I always thought that the Isle of Wight was bigger than the whole of Scotland ???

[Pabmusic]

There is though something you can "feel" with language based on observation and instinct.

Don't get me wrong. I'm entirely with you in disliking 'advisor' (see post 42) but it is interesting to know what others think. Michael Quinion is reliable - and after all, he agrees that our preference is the usual one in Britain.

[Panjandrum]

And an extremely inaccurate map of Britain, making Scotland appear the same size as Devon & Cornwall.

Be grateful that, with less than 10% of the total population of the UK, Scotland gets on the forecast at all. Actually, living in the south I am constantly berating the forecasters for starting their forecasts with NI or Scotland. The South is invariably the last place to get a mention, despite being the most populous part of the UK.

In fact, time to do away with national forecasts per se. After all, it can be of little but academic interest what the weather is doing in Ulster for someone living in Norfolk, and vice versa.

[Panjandrum]

Haitch.

Sked'yool.

[Nick Armstrong]

In fact, time to do away with national forecasts per se. After all, it can be of little but academic interest what the weather is doing in Ulster for someone living in Norfolk, and vice versa.

Quite a lot of people actually do travel around the country, you know, Panny... unlike you it would seem, squinting out at your immediate surroundings from the fastness of your Southern ivory tower

[Lateralthinking1]

But isn't the person who holds the position of 'Advisor' the person who is giving advice, & is therefore an 'adviser'?

This is a guess.

Yes - dictator, inflator, coordinator, actor

No - dictatory, inflatory, coordinatory, actory

Yes - adviser

Yes - advisory as in "advisory role".

Arguably, the "er" leads to "or" or more precisely "ory".

The "or" is not intended to be interchangeable with "er".

There is more of a softness to "adviser". You can take the advice or leave it. A dictator dictates, an actor acts etc.

[Flosshilde]

Visor? Rather than people just getting it wrong? I really don't think so.

I can say with hand on heart that I checked this out in the dictionary some years ago. There was only one spelling. If that has now changed, fair enough. Dictionary compilers respond. Useful for future generations. But if people are suddenly going to start spelling goat "gote" and in five years time the OED people say "gote" is equally good. Sorry. It's "goat" for me. I prefer to rely on the learning of centuries.

It depends on which dictionary you looked in all those years ago. And you should remember that dictionaries, especially those like the OED, are descriptive, not proscriptive or prescriptive; that is, they record & explain language usage, not tell us what we should or should not use. So if somewhere 'goat' has been spelled as 'gote', the OED would record that first usage; if it became the dominant spelling the OED might say that 'goat' was rare or archaic. By that time I think you would be beyond caring .

[MrGongGong]

"tasked" ?