Pedants' Paradise

[Nick Armstrong]

I think I first noticed this usage as grandiosity by people such as Rupert Murdoch.

Who can forget the ludicrous pomposity of "We have become a grandmother"...

[gurnemanz]

"The psychiatric label for a transgender person is that they are suffering Gender Identity Disorder."

You could write: "The psychiatric label for transgender people is that they are suffering Gender Identity Disorder". Does this not mean exactly the same and avoid the issue altogether?

[french frank]

Does this not mean exactly the same and avoid the issue altogether?

Yes,. I presume that explains the 'anaphoric reference' - that the plural idea had already been introduced.

[jean]

...very often a simple re-arrangement will remove the need to use that construction in the first place. The classic is the BT recorded message'The caller with-held their number' - which could/should have said 'the' instead of 'their'...

Sounds quite unnatural to me!

When we talk about a person amd their phone number we always use the possessive. The only way of avoiding it is to miss out mention of the person, and say something like 'The number was withheld'.

[kernelbogey]

Sounds quite unnatural to me!

There is a difference between our conversaitional speech and the written word - which bears on this discussion.

Over and out from me for a few days.

[gurnemanz]

There is a difference between our conversaitional speech and the written word - which bears on this discussion.

Over and out from me for a few days.

I like the analogy between a river and a canal. One flowing naturally and changing course over time, the other bound by formal artificial parameters imposed on it by man.

[jean]

I don't think the caller withheld the number sounds 'right' in any register; it sounds like what it is - a desperate attempt to avoid the obvious their.

[doversoul1]

How am I supposed to respond/answer when asked / greeted by a complete stranger ‘How are you today?’ I am very tempted to say ‘do I know you?’ but haven’t yet put to practice. Or has the river changed its course and I didn’t notice? Or did I get it wrong in the first place that this was a greeting between acquaintances?

If this has already been talked about, can anyone please direct me to the posts?

[french frank]

If they say "How are you today?" you reply "Fine, thank you. And you?"

But the usual greeting nowadays would be: "Hi, y'aright?" or just "Y'aright?"

I did enquire what response this was intended to elicit but gathered it was nothing in particular. I usually make a friendly sound like 'Mmmm'.

How am I supposed to respond/answer when asked / greeted by a complete stranger ‘How are you today?’ I am very tempted to say ‘do I know you?’ but haven’t yet put to practice. Or has the river changed its course and I didn’t notice? Or did I get it wrong in the first place that this was a greeting between acquaintances?

If this has already been talked about, can anyone please direct me to the posts?

[Serial_Apologist]

How am I supposed to respond/answer when asked / greeted by a complete stranger ‘How are you today?’ I am very tempted to say ‘do I know you?’ but haven’t yet put to practice. Or has the river changed its course and I didn’t notice? Or did I get it wrong in the first place that this was a greeting between acquaintances?

If this has already been talked about, can anyone please direct me to the posts?

I always say "Who wants to know?" - which I probably got from TV cop series, when someone answers the door. It usually stymies them for a moment, while you prepare your next answer: "Sorry, dunno who you're talking about".

[Lat-Literal]

How am I supposed to respond/answer when asked / greeted by a complete stranger ‘How are you today?’ I am very tempted to say ‘do I know you?’ but haven’t yet put to practice. Or has the river changed its course and I didn’t notice? Or did I get it wrong in the first place that this was a greeting between acquaintances?

If this has already been talked about, can anyone please direct me to the posts?

My father said this to Dame Judi Dench just last month when she entered the farm shop. The dramatic emphasis was on the word "you". I think she laughed and said a few words but I was a few steps away. Each seemed to handle the moment well but it raises the question "if someone really feels a need to speak to a celebrity what should the protocol be?".

Also, supermarket conversations can be difficult. I said to the woman on the till yesterday "I may be imagining things but I swear water has just dropped down onto my arm". She replied "it's the flat roof - they have already repaired it twice but they haven't repaired it". I mumbled something about the building not being very old. "14 years" she said. "I've been here since day one". What does one say? The first phrase that came to my mind was "Has it been good?". She gave me such a glare I felt it was necessary to answer that question. "It's had its moments", I said. "Yes" she said. "it's had its moments", then silence. My elderly parents love a supermarket conversation. They don't go as well for me.

On an entirely different point which I am putting out for general comment, "Arsene" as in "Wenger". 1. I am assuming the derivation must be the same - or similar - as that for "Arsenio" as in "Hall" etc? 2. Is there any English equivalent? Would it be "Asa"? I feel that it probably isn't "Asa" and have ruled out "Arnold" so maybe there isn't anything similar!

[Serial_Apologist]

My father said this to Dame Judi Dench just last month when she entered the farm shop. The dramatic emphasis was on the word "you". I think she laughed and said a few words but I was a few steps away. Each seemed to handle the moment well but it raises the question "if someone really feels a need to speak to a celebrity what should the protocol be?".

Depends on whether or not you can remember what they are celebritous for. I happened by chance to pass the actor Nigel Havers in the street a few weeks ago. For the life of me, I could not just then recall either his name or what, apart from "Grumpy Old Men", I'd seen him in, or I might have managed to utter something embarrassing.

[vinteuil]

On an entirely different point which I am putting out for general comment, "Arsene" as in "Wenger". 1. I am assuming the derivation must be the same - or similar - as that for "Arsenio" as in "Hall" etc? 2. Is there any English equivalent? Would it be "Asa"? I feel that it probably isn't "Asa" and have ruled out "Arnold" so maybe there isn't anything similar!

... no connection, I think. Asa (אסא) is the Hebrew name of the third King of Judah, and became more popular as an English name under the Puritans. Arsène is a masculine French given name derived from the Latin name Arsenius from the Greek Ἀρσἐνιος meaning "male, virile". Arsenal is ultimately from Arabic: دار الصناعة, dār aṣ-ṣināʕa, the House of Industry. Arnold is basically Germanic from Arn eagle, wald rule, power.

[Serial_Apologist]

... no connection, I think. Asa (אסא) is the Hebrew name of the fourth King of Judah, and became more popular as an English name under the Puritans. Arsène is a masculine French given name derived from the Latin name Arsenius from the Greek Ἀρσἐνιος which meaning "male, virile". Arsenal is ultimately from Arabic: دار الصناعة, dār aṣ-ṣināʕa, the House of Industry. Arnold is basically Germanic from Arn eagle, wald rule, power.

I'd often wondered what the connection was between the man's name and that of the club he manages...

[vinteuil]

... I wd suggest the only English wd be 'Arsenius', as in the Saint -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenius_the_Great

from wiki :

During the fifty-five years of his solitary life he was always the most meanly clad of all, thus punishing himself for his former seeming vanity in the world. In like manner, to atone for having used perfumes at court, he never changed the water in which he moistened the palm leaves of which he made mats, but only poured in fresh water upon it as it wasted, thus letting it become stenchy in the extreme. Even while engaged in manual labour he never relaxed in his application to prayer. At all times copious tears of devotion fell from his eyes. But what distinguished him most was his disinclination to all that might interrupt his union with God. When, after long search, his place of retreat was discovered, he not only refused to return to court and act as adviser to his former pupil, now Roman Emperor, Arcadius, but he would not even be his almoner to the poor and the monasteries of the neighbourhood. He invariably denied himself to visitors, no matter what their rank and condition and left to his disciples the care of entertaining them.

Saint Arsenius was a man who was very quiet and often silent, as evidenced by an adage of his: “Many times I spoke, and as a result felt sorry, but I never regretted my silence."