Pedants' Paradise

[vinteuil]

... some of the etymology in the following isn't particularly ept, but it's a useful list ( and better surely to be listful rather than listless... )-

http://www.rinkworks.com/words/negatives.shtml

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unpaired_word

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[french frank]

... some of the etymology in the following isn't particularly ept...

Quotation from Time, 1966: "With the exception of one or two semantic twisters, I think it is a first-rate job—definitely ept, ane and ert."

Add: inept has an etymological positive - apt - if not a semantic one. Similarly, insipid has a cognate sapid which is an antonym. And cf Homo insipiens as an antonym of homo sapiens. Fenestrate might be useful for the burglar fraternity.

[oddoneout]

Words matter...
Is this really the best way to describe the problem of dementia in an ageing population?

would pose ‘enormous threat’ to healthcare systems

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/oct/27/dementia-could-affect-17m-people-in-england-and-wales-by-2040-data-finds

It apparently was said by Hilary Evans, chief executive at Alzheimer’s Research UK, who one would have hoped was more careful about her choice of words.

Perhaps it's just me, but calling it a threat rather than a challenge is not only unhelpful but conjures up chilling overtones, especially given the government's approach of ignore them and they'll go away(aka die) to those who are not active contributing members of its (personal) wealth generating aims.

[kernelbogey]

...especially given the government's approach of ignore them and they'll go away(aka die) to those who are not active contributing members of its (personal) wealth generating aims.

Perhaps that's exactly why she chose the word 'threat'.

[Serial_Apologist]

...especially given the government's approach of ignore them and they'll go away(aka die) to those who are not active contributing members of its (personal) wealth generating aims.

Perhaps that's exactly why she chose the word 'threat'.

Sinmples: dementia is a challenge, the government's health policies are a threat.

[smittims]

I've been hearing people say 'you was...' (as in 'I didn't now you was coming') occasionally for the first time since, I think, the 1960s, when it fell out of use after it had been eradicated by state education. Is the revival a lifestyle affectation? This morning I even heard a Radio4 presenter use it in an interview (yes,really!).

[gurnemanz]

It is common in some dialects:
https://wpww.ourdialects.uk/maps/you-was/
... which would make it non-standard rather than sub-standard usage. Presumably as with 'they was', 'we was'. Thorough analysis here.

In Devon and elsewhere, usage such as 'when I were young' is heard. Script writers (eg Archers) use it to convey yokel-speak. On the other hand, the subjunctive 'If I were young' is correct.

[vinteuil]

... I rather like 'you was... '. Very eighteenth century. And I'm pretty sure Jane Austen uses it

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[kernelbogey]

... I rather like 'you was... '. Very eighteenth century. And I'm pretty sure Jane Austen uses it.

In Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels, set in the Napoleonic Wars, the construction 'Was you to...' comes up a lot; less so 'You was...' IIRC.

[french frank]

In Devon and elsewhere, usage such as 'when I were young' is heard.

No complicated grammar in Somerset: it's I be, You be, He, She or It be; We be, You be, They be. Who said English was difficult?

I noted a young relative with a BA and an MA referring on WhatsApp to 'Her and her workmates are'. As I am only a theoretical pedant, I have to concede that his usage is … correct

[smittims]

Speaking of the Archers, I heard Jim Lloyd, who is supposed to be a retired Classics professor , say 'It was me who suggested it'.

[vinteuil]

No complicated grammar in Somerset: it's I be, You be, He, She or It be; We be, You be, They be. Who said English was difficult?

... well it was a bit more complicated in Wiltshire - we had those forms, but also : I do be, you do be, he she or it do be, we do be, you do be, they do be

Or was this a Devizes peculiar?

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[french frank]

Speaking of the Archers, I heard Jim Lloyd, who is supposed to be a retired Classics professor , say 'It was me who suggested it'.

That's now more common than 'It was I who suggested it', albeit considered 'informal'. I would certainly say: It's me; not It's I. I would also write it. In the above example, though, I might prefer to stress the pronoun 'I'. "I sugested it." Or even 'suggested'

[vinteuil]

I noted a young relative

... a relative ?! - are you quite sure it wasn't a relation??

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[kernelbogey]

... well it was a bit more complicated in Wiltshire - we had those forms, but also : I do be, you do be, he she or it do be, we do be, you do be, they do be.

Or was this a Devizes peculiar?

There's a similar usage in Cornish dialect - a kind of continuous sense - e.g. 'I do catch the bus to go 'ome'.