Pedants' Paradise

[french frank]

Some relevant discussion here.

Which reminds me of another phrase or saying: 'to reinvent the wheel'

[gurnemanz]

Which reminds me of another phrase or saying: 'to reinvent the wheel'

This is a phrase much used by teachers, such as I was until retirement, when plagued by a barrage of reforms and "initiatives".

[Serial_Apologist]

This is a phrase much used by teachers, such as I was until retirement, when plagued by a barrage of reforms and "initiatives".

"Wheels within wheels" was a phrase much beloved of my late father, as denoting sub-plots within sub-plots within plots, intended or otherwise. It fits generalised attempts to describe reality rather well, I think.

[ahinton]

"Wheels within wheels" was a phrase much beloved of my late father, as denoting sub-plots within sub-plots within plots, intended or otherwise. It fits generalised attempts to describe reality rather well, I think.

Ah, yes - and the combination here, not as widely used as one might expect it to be, namely "reinventing the wheels within wheels", might well be seen as especially illustrative of the kinds of machination to which you refer; reinventing wheels within wheels between moving goalposts might describe such obfuscatory (a word ending in "tory", for some reason) conduct even more effectively.

Anyway, that reminds me of another - "it's in the public interest", which is sort of French for "we've decided what your interest should be and we've no need to justify what we've done in its name".

[Serial_Apologist]

Ah, yes - and the combination here, not as widely used as one might expect it to be, namely "reinventing the wheels within wheels", might well be seen as especially illustrative of the kinds of machination to which you refer; reinventing wheels within wheels between moving goalposts might describe such obfuscatory (a word ending in "tory", for some reason) conduct even more effectively.

Anyway, that reminds me of another - "it's in the public interest", which is sort of French for "we've decided what your interest should be and we've no need to justify what we've done in its name".

"In the national interest" is another one. You'd need to be in a right state to go along with anything thus subscribed!

[jean]

Shouldn't these last few posts be on the Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge thread rather than here (she said pedantically)?

[gurnemanz]

Shouldn't these last few posts be on the Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge thread rather than here (she said pedantically)?

Risky to try to outpedant another pedant but french frank was "intrigued" by the phrase rather than suffering from teeth on edge. We would need a new thread called something like "Derivation of intriguing phrases".

[jean]

But since #2221, derivations haven't been in question. It's those subsequent phrases I was talking about.

To get back to true pedantry, if I may: there's an awful lot of towing the line these days.

[Serial_Apologist]

But since #2221, derivations haven't been in question. It's those subsequent phrases I was talking about.

To get back to true pedantry, if I may: there's an awful lot of towing the line these days.

Isn't it "toeing the line"?

[jean]

I do believe it is!

[Serial_Apologist]

[Stillhomewardbound]

Pretty poor effort by the Daily Telegraph here with a picture gallery entitled 'Role of Gallantry' when I'm pretty sure they mean 'Roll'.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/11434757/Role-of-Gallantry-Victoria-Cross-winners-in-the-past.html?frame=3211680

[mangerton]

I've just seen this on the BBC news website.

The map contains two mistakes - "Kirkaldy" which is a distressingly frequent error, and "Stoneheaven", which is stretching the true description of "Stonehaven" just a little bit.

To make matters worse, the map bears the "Department for Transport" imprimatur. They really should know better.

Then again, it's Scotland, so they won't have a clue.

[Don Petter]

Also on the BBC news site, but apparently quoting a statement from Northants Police: A man was seen 'waiving from a lorry'.

[gurnemanz]

Also on the BBC news site, but apparently quoting a statement from Northants Police: A man was seen 'waiving from a lorry'.

Britannia waives the rules.