Pedants' Paradise

[Daniel]

I think mainly she was annoyed because my father accidentally broke her umbrella during a very poor re-enactment of Singing in the Rain.

Having pondered this situation briefly , I think on balance I would be more upset by somebody breaking my umbrella, than by having to share my middle name with a cow. However, I think either of these grievances would be dwarfed by what I'd have felt if my parents had given me the middle name Ermintrude.

I am more familiar with the phrase "Trouble is my Middle Name"

Me too, that one always seems to be knocking about somewhere. Can't recall hearing the 'Danger' one anywhere. Nor for that matter the Ermintrude one until tonight.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

On "Pointless" yesterday, a couple said that the middle name of one their children was "Danger".

I heard that - admittedly from a father whose own parents had named him "Mousse"! (I'd misheard, and thought he was still talking about his own name, and for the previous twenty-four hours had actually thought that there was a chap walking around whose parents had called him "Danger Mousse"!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'm reminded of the story in one of the Gervais Phinn anecdote books where he (a Schools Inspector) asks a little girl what her name is. Hearing that she is called "Portia", he tells her all about the character in The Merchant of Venice, only to receive an ever-increasing look of bemusement from the child. The class teacher takes him to one side and explains that the girl's father is a car fanatic, and that her name is spelt "Porsche".

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I'm reminded of the story in one of the Gervais Phinn anecdote books where he (a Schools Inspector) asks a little girl what her name is. Hearing that she is called "Portia", he tells her all about the character in The Merchant of Venice, only to receive an ever-increasing look of bemusement from the child. The class teacher takes him to one side and explains that the girl's father is a car fanatic, and that her name is spelt "Porsche".

Imagine speaking a tonal oriental language, when the same word can mean different things according to the way it's "sung".

[Sir Velo]

Christopher/Kristofer
Karen/Caron/Caren/Karin
Jonathan/Jonathon/Johnathan/Johnathon
Rachel/Rachael

We've already had "Harry S Trueman" (the "S" being his compete middle name). I wonder who will be the first person to be given a lower case name.

For a so called pedant you do seem to be remarkably unpedantic about small details such as the spelling of the late president's name.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman

[Zucchini]

Quite so, Sir Velo - hence my #3080 asking if he was going on about one of Fiery Fred Trueman's relatives
In the (near) words of Michael Caine "Not many people don't know that"

[Pulcinella]

Picking up from another thread, here's an example of a missing 'that' that causes a momentary need to reread the sentence (well, it did for me, anyway):

David Cameron has revealed his first new role after quitting political life will be to lead an expansion of the National Citizen Service for teenagers.
[BBC Online News]

Much better as
David Cameron has revealed that his first role......

(Of course, one might wish that he had chosen to do something else, but that would be straying into undesired political comment!)

[kernelbogey]

Not new, but somehow I've started to notice the frequency with which both speakers and writers begin a sentence or paragraph 'So...'. It's almost always redundant.


(So I'll keep taking the pills.)

[french frank]

Not new, but somehow I've started to notice the frequency with which both speakers and writers begin a sentence or paragraph 'So...'. It's almost always redundant.

Not too long ago Gillian Reynolds wrote that she had made a resolution not to keep starting sentences with 'So'. In many cases the use is standard ('therefore/thus', though less formal to start a new sentence with it?), but the new use could be called the 'Inconsequential So' indicating 'I'm about to say something'.

[jean]

...the new use could be called the 'Inconsequential So' indicating 'I'm about to say something'.

...and just give me a moment to get my thoughts together...

It's a filler. If it wasn't 'so', it'd be something else.

Every time this comes up (and it often does) I mention the Italian Allora... almost an exact equivalent.

[gurnemanz]

...and just give me a moment to get my thoughts together...

It's a filler. If it wasn't 'so', it'd be something else.

Every time this comes up (and it often does) I mention the Italian Allora... almost an exact equivalent.

"Dunque" is very commonly used in an almost equivalent way to "allora" (French "alors"). Germans use "also" (so, therefore) in a similar way. Aussie "look" is another similar sentence starter.

It is not always just an empty filler, as it would sometimes seem to express the meaning: "I am saying what I about to say as a consequence of what you have just said".

[kernelbogey]

"Dunque" is very commonly used in an almost equivalent way to "allora" (French "alors"). Germans use "also" (so, therefore) in a similar way. Aussie "look" is another similar sentence starter.

It is not always just an empty filler, as it would sometimes seem to express the meaning: "I am saying what I about to say as a consequence of what you have just said".

Allora... si...

And I suppose it's a sort of 'I hear what you say...'.

(Incdentally, here in Hampshire, in local dialect 'Look' is sometimes said at the end of the sentence, e.g. 'I've mended the fence, look'.)

Thanks for comments.

[jean]

Move a bit further West and they'd be saying Look you...

[ahinton]

Move a bit further West and they'd be saying Look you...

Quite a distance further west, surely?

[jean]

Litotes, ahinton.