Pedants' Paradise

[kernelbogey]

Now here's the thing: radio speech has become more like everyday conversation....

[Pulcinella]

Anybody want to give any advice?

Future question
How do you keep the underside of soap going soggy in the soap dish?

Send tips and questions to homehelp@sunday-times.co.uk. Advice given without responsibility

I think that the question should have been:

How do you stop.......

[kernelbogey]

How do you [stop] the underside of soap going soggy in the soap dish?
You buy the brand, in the first place, that has a label on one side. As the soap gets used up, a little mound forms beneath this which keeps the soap off the bottom.

[smittims]

Or better still 'how do you prevent...'

Interestingly, 'keep' (as in 'preserve') and 'prevent' used to mean the same thing. The Book of Common Prayer has 'prevent us, Lord, in all our doings..'

[Pulcinella]

Or better still 'how do you prevent...'

Interestingly, 'keep' (as in 'preserve') and 'prevent' used to mean the same thing. The Book of Common Prayer has 'prevent us, Lord, in all our doings..'

I think a 'from' might have been left out: How do you keep .... from going soggy?
Though I too prefer prevent.

[smittims]

I thought the omission of 'from' was in line with American English:

'I love that you've painted the hall' instead of 'I love the fact that you've painted the hall'. Next year, it'll be 'I love you've painted the hall'.

[oddoneout]

Or better still 'how do you prevent...'

Interestingly, 'keep' (as in 'preserve') and 'prevent' used to mean the same thing. The Book of Common Prayer has 'prevent us, Lord, in all our doings..'

"Prevent" would have been my preference as well.

No real connection but I was reminded yesterday by an article in the paper of something I find puzzling and irritating in equal measure, which is the use of "going" instead of "becoming" in relation to extinction. It has been around for some time, as in "the species is now at risk of going extinct", but seems to have become the preferred form even in supposedly more educated writing.

[smittims]

I think that's a fashion; one person hears someone saying it and thinks it sounds smart to be heard saying it. Similarly, we have 'headed' as in 'we're headed towards a crisis' instead of 'we're heading towards a crisis'. But of course this is a vast subject: people not thinking about the meaning of the word they've chosen. My current favourite is 'cathartic' used by someone who's not read Aristotle and means 'therapeutic'. I was sorry to hear this yesterday used by someone I (orherwise) much admire.

[oddoneout]

I think that's a fashion; one person hears someone saying it and thinks it sounds smart to be heard saying it. Similarly, we have 'headed' as in 'we're headed towards a crisis' instead of 'we're heading towards a crisis'. But of course this is a vast subject: people not thinking about the meaning of the word they've chosen. My current favourite is 'cathartic' used by someone who's not read Aristotle and means 'therapeutic'. I was sorry to hear this yesterday used by someone I (orherwise) much admire.

Catharsis has been used as term in psychotherapy for a long time in ways that are not in my view completely at odds with the ancient use. What is much more recent is its adoption into more common usage where the meaning becomes more blurred. However, since the release of emotions is now considered to be a good thing, therapeutic even,such usage isn't always completely at odds with the ancient, or the medical, usage? It hasn't become the opposite of its original, as sophistication has.

[smittims]

OK, fair point, but this is 'Pedant's Paradise' after all...

[oddoneout]

OK, fair point, but this is 'Pedant's Paradise' after all...

If it's of any comfort I had noticed the increased use of the word and wondered vaguely if there was any justification; your post encouraged me to look it up, rather than just continue to notice in passing and passively.

[Serial_Apologist]

I think that's a fashion; one person hears someone saying it and thinks it sounds smart to be heard saying it. Similarly, we have 'headed' as in 'we're headed towards a crisis' instead of 'we're heading towards a crisis'.

"Headed", passive, to me, indicates that we're being swept towards a crisis by the actions of others, not our own, which would be implied by "heading".

[french frank]

I was just looking back at an old BBC story about the discovery of an unusual silver seal matrix, designated 'treasure' . It included this description:

"The top storey contained a figure of a bishop holding a curled crosier in their left hand, and their right hand held in a blessing position."

As the artefact dated back to the 11th-13th cc. ... 'their'? Why not 'his'? It seems, though, that there might be the remotest of remote possibilities than the bishop might have been the possibly legendary Brigid of Ireland. But I wonder what prompted the writer to be ultra careful here? 'They' did 'their' research, perhaps?

[Old Grumpy]

Sign of the times, FF

[french frank]

Sign of the times, FF

You're not wrong, OG. My thought too!