Pedants' Paradise

[Serial_Apologist]

I heard 'surface' used as a verb today, not as in surfacing a road but along these lines:

"We only surface companies on our website which deliver...blah, blah, blah..."

Is this a new one?

Sure it wasn't "service" ard?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I congratulated the Plymouth and Newton Abbott branches of Waterstone's recently, because they have kept the old signs that retain the apostrophe. The staff member who served me said they had a book I might be interested in, but would have to show me where it was, rather than telling me the titles. When she handed it to me, I understood why. It was called "F***ing Apostrophes".

I had to buy it.

[Serial_Apologist]

I congratulated the Plymouth and Newton Abbott branches of Waterstone's recently, because they have kept the old signs that retain the apostrophe. The staff member who served me said they had a book I might be interested in, but would have to show me where it was, rather than telling me the titles. When she handed it to me, I understood why. It was called "F***ing Apostrophes".

I had to buy it.

I seem to remember there used to be a station on the Southern Region line from Waterloo to Guildford which was called Effingham Junction. Wonder if it's still there...

[Bryn]

I seem to remember there used to be a station on the Southern Region line from Waterloo to Guildford which was called Effingham Junction. Wonder if it's still there...

[anotherbob]

There is a trailer currently showing on BBC TV in which the opening words are "It's incredible to believe..."
Shome mishtake surely?

[ardcarp]

Sure it wasn't "service" ard?

Sure. 5mins 45sec into You and Yours today.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09smh26#play

Exact quote: "....there wasn't enough information being surfaced"

(Unless my hearing has gone peculiar.)

[french frank]

There is a trailer currently showing on BBC TV in which the opening words are "It's incredible to believe..."
Shome mishtake surely?

Grammar possibly? Should be: "It's unbeLIEvable that anyone would believe that …", or "That is sooo unbeLIEvable that surely NO one would believe it". I wonder what it was

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Grammar possibly? Should be: "It's unbeLIEvable that anyone would believe that …", or "That is sooo unbeLIEvable that surely NO one would believe it". I wonder what it was

I didn't see the trailer, but when I read bob2's post, I wondered if they'd meant "It's incredible to think/realize that the BBC pays somebody to write this stuff"?

[oddoneout]

Grammar possibly? Should be: "It's unbeLIEvable that anyone would believe that …", or "That is sooo unbeLIEvable that surely NO one would believe it". I wonder what it was

Not quite tautology - depending on what the whole sentence was. Sadly I expect it was the 'written in haste, no time to check, sounds OK,' school of writing in action. Those of us who read or listen, as opposed to skim, will get snagged on such things and overthink them.

[anotherbob]

Many perfectly good adjectives are dying a slow death as they are replaced by "incredible", usually exclaimed by wide-eyed breathless presenters on encountering something which might once have been described as "remarkable", "surprising", "magnificent", "unusual", "impressive", "fascinating", "wonderful" etc. etc.
Does anyone remember what "incredible" means?
We need a moratorium on the use of "incredible". It's lazy and almost always incorrect.

[Serial_Apologist]

Many perfectly good adjectives are dying a slow death as they are replaced by "incredible", usually exclaimed by wide-eyed breathless presenters on encountering something which might once have been described as "remarkable", "surprising", "magnificent", "unusual", "impressive", "fascinating", "wonderful" etc. etc.
Does anyone remember what "incredible" means?
We need a moratorium on the use of "incredible". It's lazy and almost always incorrect.

Not credible!

[french frank]

Does anyone remember what "incredible" means?

Anyone remember the stoney-faced Swede Bjorn Borg? When asked 'how he felt' about his game after another win, the stoney reply: Today I played incredible.

[Lat-Literal]

Anyone remember the stoney-faced Swede Bjorn Borg? When asked 'how he felt' about his game after another win, the stoney reply: Today I played incredible.

Yes - and it started a pattern with tennis players of "I played great" etc. I liked Borg very much. I like many, if not all, of the players who are inclined to such phrases but have always been uncomfortable with them. It is part language difference and a bigger part sports psychology, at least today, but it is also part big headedness. I look for the other sentences around them so as to find a more positive and, hopefully, accurate picture. Even the admirable Federer is not immune from this although, as with others, he's become more nuanced with age.

[french frank]

Yes - and it started a pattern with tennis players of "I played great" etc. I liked Borg very much. I like many, if not all, of the players who are inclined to such phrases but have always been uncomfortable with them. It is part language difference and a bigger part sports psychology, at least today, but it is also part big headedness. I look for the other sentences around them so as to find a more positive and, hopefully, accurate picture. Even the admirable Federer is not immune from this although, as with others, he's become more nuanced with age.

I imagine non-English speakers are inclined to copy what they hear without necessarily getting the usage correct.

[Serial_Apologist]

Yes - and it started a pattern with tennis players of "I played great" etc. I liked Borg very much. I like many, if not all, of the players who are inclined to such phrases but have always been uncomfortable with them. It is part language difference and a bigger part sports psychology, at least today, but it is also part big headedness. I look for the other sentences around them so as to find a more positive and, hopefully, accurate picture. Even the admirable Federer is not immune from this although, as with others, he's become more nuanced with age.

Well, as well as a distraction offering people something other than the genuinely worrying to worry about, sport today epitomises the capitalist ethos, eg the myth of meritocracy that says the system freely allows anybody to get to the top through self-application. But, there would be no top to get to if everyone was free to get there, though merit or whatever means, because there would be no bottom or middle either. But they don't tell you that: you have to work it out for yourself, and risk being called a party pooper.