Pedants' Paradise

[kernelbogey]

My favourite letter to The Times (genuine - came from their own anthology) was along the lines of (I paraphrase, of necessity):
Sir - I have just written you a very long letter on the subject of [xxxxx]. On further reflection, I have torn it up and sent this one instead.
Your obedient servant etc etc....

[Serial_Apologist]

You'd expect the Letters Editor to do a better job, though.

A review of Winstanley on Milestone Films includes the word "disasterous" - it amazes that organisations of this calibre don't have the necessary computer vetting software to catch common spelling errors such as this, or ring a loud electronic bell until someone is alerted.

[french frank]

A review of Winstanley on Milestone Films includes the word "disasterous" - it amazes that organisations of this calibre don't have the necessary computer vetting software to catch common spelling errors such as this, or ring a loud electronic bell until someone is alerted.

The job's primary purpose these days is, I suspect, to ensure no legal fallout, but I don't believe the letter quoted would ever have been subject to the kind of style micro-editing being suggested here.

I guess all the Letters Editor does is select the letters for publication. Then it's passed on to the features subs desk - subs normally employed for their literacy skills.

I would have omitted the first "that" and also the later "that have been".

D'accord. [singed a former subeditor- ]

[smittims]

I've been puzzled by the use of the word 'widely' in the following passage. Is it just me or is there something odd here?

'No pianist has been more widely associated with Beethoven than Alfred Brendel, who first made his reputation by recording the composer's complete piano works.'

Does he mean that if you went round the world and asked people at random 'who's the first pianist you associate with Beethoven?' more people would name Alfred Brendel than anyone else?

I'm not sure he means that; I suspect he'd trying to find a polite way of saying 'Brendel is the no.1 Beethoven pianist', in the same way that educated people used to say 'It will, I think, be generally accepted that...' before making a claim that they are too polite to assert as a fact.

What do you think he really means?

(...by the way, it's a writer whose writings on music I have always found rewarding, i.e. I'm not trying to disparage him .)

[Serial_Apologist]

(...by the way, its a writer whose writings on music I have always found rewarding, i.e. I'm not trying to disparage him .)

it's

[french frank]

it's

he's?

I think 'widely' doesn't imply 'a majority'. Just 'very many people'. Let's face it: for 'most people' the name of Alfred Brendel means nothing at all; Beethoven perhaps would be known by a few more. So already the pool among whom he is 'widely' known is diminished. Is there a better word than 'pool'? I can't think of the mot juste.

[smittims]

Thanks. Typo duly corrected.

[kernelbogey]

I've noticed tv chefs using verbs in a particular way, e.g.
fry off
glaze out
reduce down
trim off

I'm curious where these come from and what the preposition adds in meaning.

[Serial_Apologist]

I've noticed tv chefs using verbs in a particular way, e.g.
fry off
glaze out
reduce down
trim off

I'm curious where these come from and what the preposition adds in meaning.

Trimming off I would associate with having either my hair or the garden hedge cut. As for the other three terms the first tends either to make me fry off the handle, glaze out, or find myself reduced down to despairing at unnecessary verbiage being used to make more of ordinary everyday actions than they warrant in order to boulster some people's sense of self-importance. Drizzling is another menu term that gets up my nose: sprinkling would "serve" adequately.

[french frank]

Drizzling is another menu term that gets up my nose: sprinkling would "serve" adequately.

I associate drizzling with liquids, usually olive oil; and sprinkling maybe powder or ground herbs and spices. So maybe a sprinkling would be more likely to get up your nose?

[kernelbogey]

I've noticed tv chefs using verbs in a particular way, e.g.
fry off
glaze out
reduce down
trim off

I'm curious where these come from and what the preposition adds in meaning.

Answering my own question I wonder if it's an attempt to convey completion: fry until the food has browned and crisped sufficiently; reduce down until the requisite volume or taste has been achieved; et cetera.

[kernelbogey]

A Guardian preview of tv includes the phrase 'the PM...trying to salvage his fracked marriage'. Hmm. Seems a new usage - perhaps meant to evoke a less acceptable adjective.

[Serial_Apologist]

A Guardian preview of tv includes the phrase 'the PM...trying to salvage his fracked marriage'. Hmm. Seems a new usage - perhaps meant to evoke a less acceptable adjective.

Well oil beef..............................!!!

[oddoneout]

A Guardian preview of tv includes the phrase 'the PM...trying to salvage his fracked marriage'. Hmm. Seems a new usage - perhaps meant to evoke a less acceptable adjective.

Possibly(although nothing wrong with fractured surely...), but it does conjure up some rather - erm - unpleasant images given what's involved with fossil fuel fracking.

[Serial_Apologist]

Possibly(although nothing wrong with fractured surely...), but it does conjure up some rather - erm - unpleasant images given what's involved with fossil fuel fracking.

Quite.