Pedants' Paradise

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  • Sir Velo
    replied
    Originally posted by smittims View Post
    'Grocer's apostrophe's' always had us in stitches, and I still recall 'celery, sixpence a bungle'. Even that was capped by the closing remark in a training talk; '... and if you have any queries ask Irene; you'll find her a minefield of information'. .
    I recall receiving a missive in which my correspondent complained that he had been stitched up by a feta compli (sic).

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  • smittims
    replied
    'Grocer's apostrophe's' always had us in stitches, and I still recall 'celery, sixpence a bungle'.

    Even that was capped by the closing remark in a training talk; '... and if you have any queries ask Irene; you'll find her a minefield of information'. .

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  • LMcD
    replied
    I don't know whether this is the right place for what one might call 'bloopers', by which I mean mistakes that amuse rather than irritate or annoy - perhaps they deserve a thread of their own?
    Anyway ... this morning the postie popped a note through my letterbox informing me that he'd left a paket (sic) behind one of the wheelie bins.

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  • french frank
    replied
    Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View Post

    Then thank dawkins I get on so well with mine!

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  • oddoneout
    replied
    Originally posted by smittims View Post
    Your mention of the word 'slope', ff, reminds me of how difficult it is for me, and I guess, others of my generation,to keep up with political correctness. You may find it difficult to believe, but until I read your post I wouldn't have thought 'slope' meant anything else but its traditional English meaning. I was told some time ago that one mustn't say 'water melon' as that has become an offensive term. What these two terms are now taken to mean is a mystery to me. Words and phrases that were acceptable last year are suddenly politically-incorrect. Its a minefield (oops, for all I now 'minefield' might now be banned for some reason).

    This isn't mean to be satirical . I do genuinely find it all bewildering.
    Trouble is using an alternative name would also be offensive to some as they wouldn't have a clue what you were talking about, and might thus feel belittled.
    Citrullus lanatus, pasteque fourragere*, coloquinte... *With apologies for missing accents.
    In any case it's not the watermelon per se, but portion thereof in the wrong context.

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  • Serial_Apologist
    replied
    Originally posted by french frank View Post

    Know thy neighbour - they get up to all sorts of scams, you wouldn't beiieve.
    Then thank dawkins I get on so well with mine!

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  • french frank
    replied
    Originally posted by oddoneout View Post
    From a Guardian consumer article

    Actually it was the tenant who had listed the property and the neighbours who alerted the owner.
    Know thy neighbour - they get up to all sorts of scams, you wouldn't beiieve.

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  • oddoneout
    replied
    From a Guardian consumer article

    In London, Kennedy was alerted that his property had been put on Airbnb by neighbours.
    Actually it was the tenant who had listed the property and the neighbours who alerted the owner.

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  • LMcD
    replied
    Originally posted by Pulcinella View Post

    So will I!
    Don't worry - the best is yet to come - I'm nine squared!

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  • Pulcinella
    replied
    Originally posted by smittims View Post
    So, we were both 'new Elizabethans'!
    I must be that bit older......see my Profile.
    The news of my birth reached Sandringham and the poor king snuffed it two hours later, so I'm technically a Georgian!


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  • smittims
    replied
    So, we were both 'new Elizabethans'!

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  • Pulcinella
    replied
    Originally posted by smittims View Post
    I'll be 73 next month, vinteuil. But rather than age I think it's to do with the way my brain is wired. I've never gone in for subtle hints and hidden meanings and mind games and standing back sniggering while someone tries to work out what they mean. As I've only a few years to go I think I'll just stick to plain English and risk being arrested for inadverently using a politically-incorrect word.
    So will I!

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  • smittims
    replied
    I'll be 73 next month, vinteuil. But rather than age I think it's to do with the way my brain is wired. I've never gone in for subtle hints and hidden meanings and mind games and standing back sniggering while someone tries to work out what they mean. As I've only a few years to go I think I'll just stick to plain English and risk being arrested for inadverently using a politically-incorrect word.

    Leave a comment:


  • Old Grumpy
    replied
    Originally posted by french frank View Post

    As a verb it has a different history. The OED has the first British use (in single quotes) as a noun indicating contempt in the New Statesman, 1966: U.S. slang. (disparaging and offensive). A person from East or Southeast Asia; (more recently) spec. a Vietnamese person.
    Thanks FF, helpful (as ever). I certainly heard the use as a verb (as in sloped off) from childhood.

    I was too was unaware of the disparaging U.S. slang usage until the Clarkson debacle.

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  • french frank
    replied
    Originally posted by LMcD View Post

    I can't remember when I first encountered the phrase 'slope off', but it must have been several decades ago.
    As a verb it has a different history. The OED has the first British use (in single quotes) as a noun indicating contempt in the New Statesman, 1966: U.S. slang. (disparaging and offensive). A person from East or Southeast Asia; (more recently) spec. a Vietnamese person.

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