Pedants' Paradise

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  • cloughie
    Full Member
    • Dec 2011
    • 22110

    Originally posted by LMcD View Post
    As I've recently said elsewhere, nobody is ever to blame for anything any more.
    If all else fails blame the computer!

    Comment

    • oddoneout
      Full Member
      • Nov 2015
      • 9135

      Originally posted by cloughie View Post
      If all else fails blame the computer!
      That may not work for very much longer, those machines are getting damned clever, and the day is surely not that far away when the computer refuses to take the blame?

      Comment

      • cloughie
        Full Member
        • Dec 2011
        • 22110

        Originally posted by oddoneout View Post
        That may not work for very much longer, those machines are getting damned clever, and the day is surely not that far away when the computer refuses to take the blame?
        You mean they’ll byte back!

        Comment

        • LMcD
          Full Member
          • Sep 2017
          • 8396

          Originally posted by cloughie View Post
          You mean they’ll byte back!
          Well, HAL certainly tried to take matters into his own hands. It looks as if Asimov might be proved wrong.

          Comment

          • kernelbogey
            Full Member
            • Nov 2010
            • 5735

            Originally posted by oddoneout View Post
            ... those machines are getting damned clever, and the day is surely not that far away when the computer refuses to take the blame?
            The other day I caught my new headphones, in cahoots with my iPhone, trying to book my car into the local station carpark.

            Comment

            • LMcD
              Full Member
              • Sep 2017
              • 8396

              Originally posted by kernelbogey View Post
              The other day I caught my new headphones, in cahoots with my iPhone, trying to book my car into the local station carpark.
              That could form the basis for episode 1 of a rebooted 'Twilight Zone'.

              Comment

              • oddoneout
                Full Member
                • Nov 2015
                • 9135

                Originally posted by kernelbogey View Post
                The other day I caught my new headphones, in cahoots with my iPhone, trying to book my car into the local station carpark.
                You're too far away for it to be a Brief Encounter, so just as well you found out in time...

                Comment

                • Bryn
                  Banned
                  • Mar 2007
                  • 24688

                  America no longer has a foot in both camps.

                  Comment

                  • french frank
                    Administrator/Moderator
                    • Feb 2007
                    • 30205

                    Ped-antry gone mad!
                    It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.

                    Comment

                    • Bryn
                      Banned
                      • Mar 2007
                      • 24688

                      Originally posted by french frank View Post
                      Ped-antry gone mad!
                      Trust you to spot why I posted it where I did.

                      Comment

                      • Pulcinella
                        Host
                        • Feb 2014
                        • 10872

                        Originally posted by Bryn View Post
                        Trust you to spot why I posted it where I did.
                        Maybe this, about their curious measure of a gallon (so 'gas' price per gallon isn't quite as low as it might appear to us in the UK, as they're getting less) should be on the Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge thread: it's quite gall-ing!


                        US gallons are different to the imperial gallon.
                        In the Americas, a gallon is equivalent to 128 fluid ounces or 3.785 liters (American spelling).
                        But in the UK, it's 160 fluid ounces or 4.546 litres (British spelling).

                        Or should that be 'different from'?
                        I copied the wording from here:

                        Comment

                        • LeMartinPecheur
                          Full Member
                          • Apr 2007
                          • 4717

                          Originally posted by Pulcinella View Post
                          US gallons are different to the imperial gallon.
                          In the Americas, a gallon is equivalent to 128 fluid ounces or 3.785 liters (American spelling).
                          But in the UK, it's 160 fluid ounces or 4.546 litres (British spelling).
                          AFAIK the root of this difference lies in the fact that where we have 20 fluid ounces to the pint they have 16, presumably on some sort of analogy with 16 ounces to the pound. We start from a UK gallon of water weighing 10lb, a pint therefore 160/8 = 20oz. 1/20pt therefore weighs 1oz and therefore that volume gets called a fluid ounce. Or used to anyway.
                          I keep hitting the Escape key, but I'm still here!

                          Comment

                          • Pulcinella
                            Host
                            • Feb 2014
                            • 10872

                            Originally posted by LeMartinPecheur View Post
                            AFAIK the root of this difference lies in the fact that where we have 20 fluid ounces to the pint they have 16, presumably on some sort of analogy with 16 ounces to the pound. We start from a UK gallon of water weighing 10lb, a pint therefore 160/8 = 20oz. 1/20pt therefore weighs 1oz and therefore that volume gets called a fluid ounce. Or used to anyway.
                            I never knew that (the fluid and imperial ounce correlation), thinking that only the metric system had a straightforward relationship between weight and volume of water.

                            Comment

                            • french frank
                              Administrator/Moderator
                              • Feb 2007
                              • 30205

                              Slightly off to be picky about a particularly solemn occasion, but the BBC's: "Beirut blast: Victims remembered in one month anniversary vigil". I see the OED gives five such 'extended use' examples, all American, the first in 1871.Though I don't suppose the BBC's is the first British example.

                              For me it might equally well be under the words that set my teeth on edge, not least because, in extreme old age, time is already going so fast that this occurrence might have happened a year ago .
                              It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.

                              Comment

                              • ahinton
                                Full Member
                                • Nov 2010
                                • 16122

                                Originally posted by french frank View Post
                                Slightly off to be picky about a particularly solemn occasion, but the BBC's: "Beirut blast: Victims remembered in one month anniversary vigil". I see the OED gives five such 'extended use' examples, all American, the first in 1871.Though I don't suppose the BBC's is the first British example.

                                For me it might equally well be under the words that set my teeth on edge, not least because, in extreme old age, time is already going so fast that this occurrence might have happened a year ago .
                                Indeed, "menstruversary" seems yet to have been added to the language but no doubt some lunatic will eventually get around to this...

                                Comment

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