Pedants' Paradise

[Don Petter]

- rather as, even today, certain imperial measures still have a peceived currency today in UK - "miles per gallon", 2.24l plastic bottles of milk being sold as 4-pint bottles and the rest and, despite metric measure having first formally been discussed in Parliament almost two centuries ago and its use now the law, some Brits still seem to love to complicate matters by "converting"...

Or you could say this is keeping it simple by not converting ...

[jean]

Nor I, and even it it did fit the category intended, the accepted term is "greengrocer's apostrophe"

That's true, but having already corrected ah in two matters, I didn't like to add a third.

[Bryn]

No, I'd not forgotten that; nor have I forgotten that it took a further 13 years for its death knell to be sounded; in fact, I did wonder at the time whether it was introduced along with the rest of decimal currency solely s a sop to satisfy the bizarre attachments that some people still retained for imperial measures various - rather as, even today, certain imperial measures still have a pereived currency today in UK - "miles per gallon", 2.24l plastic bottles of milk being sold as 4-pint bottles and the rest and, despite metric measure having first formally been discussed in Parliament almost two centuries ago and its use now the law, some Brits still seem to love to complicate matters by "converting"...

Never mind "miles per gallon", what about "miles per hour". I wonder how many more road deaths and serious injuries would result if we changed to kilometres per hour and thus upped the standard urban speed limit to European mainland 50kph from the current UK 30mph?

[jean]

Let's hope we can make some progress towards a standard urban speed limit of 20mph before that happens.

[gurnemanz]

Never mind "miles per gallon", what about "miles per hour". I wonder how many more road deaths and serious injuries would result if we changed to kilometres per hour and thus upped the standard urban speed limit to European mainland 50kph from the current UK 30mph?

As they did in Ireland a few years ago. I wonder if there are any statistics.

[mercia]

How much is a gobstopper nowadays?

don't know, but the tuck shop is on the way out

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-27888584

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Let's hope we can make some progress towards a standard urban speed limit of 20mph before that happens.

Banning all vehicles from parking on the pavement would be another priority. There is no clear law about this, except in London.

Pavement parking began to be an issue immidiately after decimalisation. I don't suppose there's any connection.

[french frank]

Banning all vehicles from parking on the pavement would be another priority. There is no clear law about this, except in London.

Is that correct?

"Parking on the pavement is illegal." BCC website

("Enforcement of parking restrictions and bus lanes in Bristol is carried out under Part 6 of the Traffic Management Act 2004 and the Section 144 of the Transport Act 2000")

[gurnemanz]

Banning all vehicles from parking on the pavement would be another priority. There is no clear law about this, except in London.

Pavement parking began to be an issue immidiately after decimalisation. I don't suppose there's any connection.

It's a an even bigger issue in Germany where outrageous pavement parking takes place. Below, one of many photos quickly found via Google Images:



Mercedes - no comment.

[Bryn]

Banning all vehicles from parking on the pavement would be another priority. There is no clear law about this, except in London.

Pavement parking began to be an issue immidiately after decimalisation. I don't suppose there's any connection.

Many councils, including some within the old GLC boundaries, now actively encourage part pavement parking, with designated parking bays shared between road and pavement (two wheels on the road, and the other two on the pavement). Several such have been introduced along Green Lane, Hounslow in the past year, for instance.

[Don Petter]

Many councils, including some within the old GLC boundaries, now actively encourage part pavement parking, with designated parking bays shared between road and pavement (two wheels on the road, and the other two on the pavement). Several such have been introduced along Green Lane, Hounslow in the past year, for instance.

Good old British compromise?

[jean]

Even when they don't explicitly sanction pavement parking, councils somethimes allow for it - here, when people began to complain that the flagstone pavements in residential streets were being replaced with asphalt, the council replied that asphalt wasn't so easily damaged by having cars parked on it.

[vinteuil]

... a pedant writes : From about #1234 above there has been nothing appropriately pedantic. Can we please return to Oxford commas and, ceteris paribus, things higher than a greengrocer's apostrophe? (Tho' I did enjoy on a walk down the Uxbridge Road this morning an advertisement for - a Picture Framers's... )

[gurnemanz]

... a pedant writes : From about #1234 above there has been nothing appropriately pedantic. Can we please return to Oxford commas and, ceteris paribus, things higher than a greengrocer's apostrophe? (Tho' I did enjoy on a walk down the Uxbridge Road this morning an advertisement for - a Picture Framers's... )

That comment is a rather pedantic.

[Don Petter]

... a pedant writes : From about #1234 above there has been nothing appropriately pedantic. Can we please return to Oxford commas and, ceteris paribus, things higher than a greengrocer's apostrophe? (Tho' I did enjoy on a walk down the Uxbridge Road this morning an advertisement for - a Picture Framers's... )

Here's a paribus (suit enthusiast ...):

https://www.flickr.com/photos/train-pix/8370155443/