Pedants' Paradise

[Pulcinella]

NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme

If you are unable to read this letter or the enclosed leaflet because English is not your first language, please ask someone who speaks English to telephone the freephone helpline on 0800 707 60 60 for further information and help.

Excuse me, but if you can't read the letter, how do you know what to do?

To be fair, the same sentence then appears in several languages: Arabic, Bengali, Farsi, Gujarati, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), and Urdu.

[Old Grumpy]

NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme.

Well, I guess that by their very nature pedants are anally retentive

[kindofblue]

Radio5 Live half an hour ago - 'There is a lot of rain activity today across the country'. I wonder what it will be up to this time?

[Sir Velo]

Radio5 Live half an hour ago - 'There is a lot of rain activity today across the country'. I wonder what it will be up to this time?

No doubt it will fall in great volumes (sic).

[smittims]

I was delighted to see the census form in 2021 said of question 18 (I think) only 'this question has been deliberately omitted'
. So why number it?

Later it said that 'children under 12 months need not answer the following questions. ' I kid you not.

[Pulcinella]

Having used the spelling moveable in a recent post and then seeing Sir Velo use the spelling movable, I thought I'd check, and discovered (not to my particular surprise) that, rather like Herbert Howells supposedly felt, I must be living in a previous era.




Is it movable or moveable? Movable and moveable are two spelling variants of the same adjective, which means able to be moved or repositioned.

• Moveable was more common until the mid-19th century.
• Today, movable is the standard spelling.

To conclude, use movable in every context except in reference to specific literary works, like the Hemingway memoir A Moveable Feast.

[french frank]

Having used the spelling moveable in a recent post and then seeing Sir Velo use the spelling movable, I thought I'd check, and discovered (not to my particular surprise) that, rather like Herbert Howells supposedly felt, I must be living in a previous era.

To conclude, use movable in every context except in reference to specific literary works, like the Hemingway memoir A Moveable Feast.

Source? The OED gives 'moveable' as a variant of 'movable'. But 'aging' as a variant of ageing'. To e or not to e?

[smittims]

I was surprised to see that, Pulcinella. I'd have said moveable is correct British English and movable American .

[Pulcinella]

Source? The OED gives 'moveable' as a variant of 'movable'. But 'aging' as a variant of ageing'. To e or not to e?

https://writingexplained.org/movable-or-moveable

Maybe not very reput(e)able.

[vinteuil]

The OED gives 'moveable' as a variant of 'movable'. But 'aging' as a variant of ageing'. To e or not to e?

... the 2016 New Oxford Style Manual helpfully offers -

movable (also moveable)

but is more certain with

ageing (US aging)
aging US var. of ageing


.

[french frank]

Maybe not very reput(e)able.

Well, they do say, "In this post, I will compare movable vs. movable" and for the life of me I can't see any difference. Do I have a cognitive problem?

PS I carefully copied and pasted the quote and they still look the same.

[Pulcinella]

Well, they do say, "In this post, I will compare movable vs. movable" and for the life of me I can't see any difference. Do I have a cognitive problem?

PS I carefully copied and pasted the quote and they still look the same.

There goes the site's reputation then.

[Serial_Apologist]

There goes the site's reputation then.

But surely the forum has to be irreplac(e)able!

(I am implacable about that).

[LMcD]

I was delighted to see the census form in 2021 said of question 18 (I think) only 'this question has been deliberately omitted'
. So why number it?

Later it said that 'children under 12 months need not answer the following questions. ' I kid you not.

A notice in a local newsagent's window reads: 'Paper deliverers wanted. Must be 12 years old'. This could be bad news for cash-strapped kids aged 13 and above.

[Pulcinella]

A notice in a local newsagent's window reads: 'Paper deliverers wanted. Must be 12 years old'. This could be bad news for cash-strapped kids aged 13 and above.