Pedants' Paradise

[Serial_Apologist]

Not sad, but just not your thing? Although I agree the flower arrangements can be grim still far far preferable to the animal equivalents I would suggest, with all their attendant sidelining of the animals' wellbeing during the process of breeding to show standards.

How do you know plants don't have feelings? The POW must think so if he talks to them! That's the Prince of Wales by the way, not prisoner of war.

I once remonstrated with a vegetarian, who had been castigating me for being a meat-eater, that if one listened closely one could hear carrots scream when they were being sliced up. "Really?" she replied. Then I became a vegetarian and lost my sense of humour too.

Needless to say, we are in agreement here.

[Pulcinella]

I know that, partly because I lived in Canada for a while, my spelling has a certain mid-Atlantic aspect to it.
I tend to be one of those people for whom this would apply:

My spelling is Wobbly. It's good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places.

A A Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

But I'm not sure that I would go as far as Oliver Kamm suggests in his Times 2 article on Tuesday 13 April:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/realy-good-at-spelling-or-aweful-either-way-its-not-disasterous-hhp97wsm6?shareToken=8803d6b5a684eb60158b2bdba5bcb899

What do others think?
Is it not worth bothering, and should we simply accept that spelling will evolve in the same way as (use of) language in general?
Who will curate all the variants though?


PS: I disagree with his comment about 'earned' near the end. I certainly don't pronounce it with a 't' sound. Maybe it was just a bad choice, as I understand his general point.

[gurnemanz]

I am generally quite liberal (small l) but am definitely in favour of having and enforcing standard spelling, with variants not permitted. Yes, I was a red-pen-wielding schoolmaster. I have heard that red pens are now politically incorrect - considered confrontational and threatening (no comment). However, as language is for ever going to be in a transitory state there will always be some dubious variant cases: earned/earnt
learned/learnt, burned/burnt etc.

[LMcD]

BBC News reports that Hull University will no longer mark students down on the grounds of poor spelling and grammar as this is deemed 'elitist'. How long, I wonder, before first-class degrees are awarded if only a certain proportion of answers are incorrect or arguments are badly presented or the result of plagiarism?

[Bryn]

BBC News reports that Hull University will no longer mark students down on the grounds of poor spelling and grammar as this is deemed 'elitist'. How long, I wonder, before first-class degrees are awarded if only a certain proportion of answers are incorrect or arguments are badly presented or the result of plagiarism?

That is simply not comparing like with like. C-.

[french frank]

And in other news: The Guardian reports, in connection with the cliff fall on the Jurassic Coast, that: "much of Kent and Sussex experienced a rise in falls."

[LMcD]

And in other news: The Guardian reports, in connection with the cliff fall on the Jurassic Coast, that: "much of Kent and Sussex experienced a rise in falls."

Things don't seem to have improved much since General MacArthur flew back to front.

[cloughie]

And in other news: The Guardian reports, in connection with the cliff fall on the Jurassic Coast, that: "much of Kent and Sussex experienced a rise in falls."

Cue the music from the Shadows:

https://youtu.be/g9SSw6o3sOY

[oddoneout]

And in other news: The Guardian reports, in connection with the cliff fall on the Jurassic Coast, that: "much of Kent and Sussex experienced a rise in falls."

Sadly may not be long before we see "paypackets show fall in rises"?

[Pulcinella]

In this sad news report, is the use of the word multiple a typically American one, I wonder.

At least eight people have been shot dead at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis and the suspected gunman has killed himself, police say.

Multiple other people were injured and went to local hospitals, a police spokesperson, Genae Cook, said at an early morning news conference on Friday.

What's wrong with many or several?
I would use multiple in a phrase such as 'sustained multiple injuries', but multiple people?

[Bryn]

In this sad news report, is the use of the word multiple a typically American one, I wonder.



What's wrong with many or several?
I would use multiple in a phrase such as 'sustained multiple injuries', but multiple people?

Puts me in mind of conjoined twins.

[Pulcinella]

To show the usefulness of (or need for) the Oxford comma:

There will be 52 budget recipes, with online tutorials, including chicken satay stir fry, chicken pie and broccoli and cauliflower cheese, with Mr Kerridge showing the Manchester United player how to cook.

(In an article about Marcus Rashford's budget cookery, on the BBC News website.)

So, is that
(i) (a) chicken pie and broccoli and (b) cauliflower cheese
(ii) (a) chicken pie and (b) broccoli and cauliflower cheese

I suspect that the answer is (i)!
Good luck to them trying to get kids to eat broccoli though. It's one thing that you can't hide in a glass of milk.

[cloughie]

To show the usefulness of (or need for) the Oxford comma:

There will be 52 budget recipes, with online tutorials, including chicken satay stir fry, chicken pie and broccoli and cauliflower cheese, with Mr Kerridge showing the Manchester United player how to cook.

(In an article about Marcus Rashford's budget cookery, on the BBC News website.)

So, is that
(i) (a) chicken pie and broccoli and (b) cauliflower cheese
(ii) (a) chicken pie and (b) broccoli and cauliflower cheese

I suspect that the answer is (i)!
Good luck to them trying to get kids to eat broccoli though. It's one thing that you can't hide in a glass of milk.

Like in maths when combining adding and multiply it requires brackets.
... and finally milk’s so boring!

[french frank]

Somewhat baffled (but suspect I'm missing something that is common knowledge): 'Twelve of Britain's most talented sewers compete to win.'

It reminded me of "Lord Redesdale ("Uncle Matthew" in Love in a Cold Climate), celebrated for his dislike of foreigners and his daughters' friends, disparaged collectively as "sewers."

[Padraig]

Cue the music from the Shadows:

https://youtu.be/g9SSw6o3sOY

Therein lies a tale untold.