Pedants' Paradise

[James Wonnacott]

How do you use only one side of the foil?

Not sure, but if you can find a way it should last twice as long.

[Pulcinella]

How do you use only one side of the foil?

Make it into a Möbius strip?

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

[James Wonnacott]

"Please be upstanding"

I supose the opposite would be "please be downsitting"

[LMcD]

"Please be upstanding"

I supose the opposite would be "please be downsitting"

'Let's give it up for (name of performer or whoever)' - give up what, precisely?

[Old Grumpy]

'Let's give it up for (name of performer or whoever)' - give up what, precisely?

Ladies, Gentlemen and Non-Gendered persons please give it up for...


...the OED:

https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/04/give-it-up.html

[smittims]

That's a new one on me. The only source I can think of is 'let us offer up our praise and thanks...'

'Up' has many meanings unconnected with verticality. 'Finished up, washed up, I met up with Mrs. Johnson, Blazes Boylan is getting it up (well,that may have a vertical connotation)..)

[kernelbogey]

This entertaining Guardian review of The British Invasion of American English by Ben Yagoda should bring joy to the heart of any pedant this morning.

[LMcD]

Ladies, Gentlemen and Non-Gendered persons please give it up for...


...the OED:

https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/04/give-it-up.html

A very informative article - thank you! I've decided to give up on Radio 3 Breakfast.

[french frank]

A very informative article - thank you! I've decided to give up on Radio 3 Breakfast.

Nooooo!!! Et tu, you Brute ...

[Pulcinella]

I know we've been here before, but I do hate multiple:

New Orleans: local authorities say they believe ‘multiple people are involved’ in attack – latest updates

I can cope with multiple injuries (as a description, not in person!) though.

[LMcD]

Nooooo!!! Et tu, you Brute ...

I've always tried to be an honourable man....

[gurnemanz]

Ladies, Gentlemen and Non-Gendered persons please give it up for...


...the OED:

https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2012/04/give-it-up.html

I mentioned in the "what are you reading" thread Penguin's Meet the Dictionary People by Sarah Ogilvie, which I have just finished. It's an intriguing exposition of the diverse characters who contributed to the first edition of the OED with sections devoted to e.g. Sex Maniacs, Lunatics, Cannibals and Novelists and was masterminded with ongoing devotion and commitment in the late 19th C by James Murray from a shed in his garden in Oxford, nicknamed the Scriptorium. Full of fascinating detail the book will be of interest to any pedant, philologist, linguist, lexophile etc. E.g. I've just read that in 1891 Thomas Hardy, who was not an official contributor, volunteered three words which he felt needed to be in there: 'eweleaze', 'cowleaze' and 'hogleaze'. After due editorial consideration, Murray accepted 'eweleaze', and 'cowleaze'.

[french frank]

I've just read that in 1891 Thomas Hardy, who was not an official contributor, volunteered three words which he felt needed to be in there: 'eweleaze', 'cowleaze' and 'hogleaze'. After due editorial consideration, Murray accepted 'eweleaze', and 'cowleaze'.

I offered one new definition - the West Country dialectal meaning of 'batch', accompanied by all the published references in support. I don't think it has ever appeared though

[kernelbogey]

Rise in UK deaths expected due to snow and ice weather warnings - The Guardian

[Serial_Apologist]

Rise in UK deaths expected due to snow and ice weather warnings - The Guardian

The Shock of the News.