Pedants' Paradise

[oddoneout]

Sorry - I didn't realize the stone doorway belonged to the warden.

I decided not to raise that as well! I hadn't noticed at first reading but when I tracked the article down for posting here it caught my eye. Reinforces my suggestion that, regardless of the "whose" issue, it could have been better phrased.

[Pulcinella]

Sorry - I didn't realize the stone doorway belonged to the warden.

I hadn't twigged either; as ooo points out, that does make the whole sentence somewhat infelicitously written! No problem with whose for a thing. But whose whose is it?
Do we need to consult Who's Who?

[LMcD]

I hadn't twigged either; as ooo points out, that does make the whole sentence somewhat infelicitously written! No problem with whose for a thing. But whose whose is it?
Do we need to consult Who's Who?

Don't you mean 'Who's Whom'?

[Serial_Apologist]

Don't you mean 'Who's Whom'?

To whom it may concern,,,

[LMcD]

I'm not sure what the precise term is for a phrase such as 'they arrived in a triumph and motor car', which I remember from an English lesson back in the 1950s as an example of what not to say or write, but I was reminded of it this morning when our local weather forecaster told us that heavier showers would arrive in later in the afternoon. 'Arrive in what?' I wondered, and am still wondering.

[smittims]

I was always irritated by 'I met up with Mrs. Johnson' instead of 'I met Mrs. Johnson'.

[Pulcinella]

I'm not sure what the precise term is for a phrase such as 'they arrived in a triumph and motor car', which I remember from an English lesson back in the 1950s as an example of what not to say or write, but I was reminded of it this morning when our local weather forecaster told us that heavier showers would arrive in later in the afternoon. 'Arrive in what?' I wondered, and am still wondering.

Zeugma:

Miss Bolo [...] went straight home, in a flood of tears and a sedan-chair." (Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers, Chapter 35)

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

[Pulcinella]

I was always irritated by 'I met up with Mrs. Johnson' instead of 'I met Mrs. Johnson'.

Americans (or maybe Canadians or both) 'visit with'.

I had a nice visit with Mrs Smith.

I always wondered who (whom?) or what they visited!

[oddoneout]

Americans (or maybe Canadians or both) 'visit with'.

I had a nice visit with Mrs Smith.

I always wondered who (whom?) or what they visited!

Used more in N America, and indicates a sociable occasion rather than just calling in, apparently. One reference said that it was current in 19thC Britain and occurs in the writings of Ruskin and George Eliot. As with other examples of American English it is possible that what we now dislike is just a remnant of a form of English that was taken to the New World and continued there, but passed in to disuse in this country.
Other forms of speech that may irritate are originally dialect/regional/cultural that have passed into wider usage - not always in their original meaning.

[Pulcinella]

Used more in N America, and indicates a sociable occasion rather than just calling in, apparently. One reference said that it was current in 19thC Britain and occurs in the writings of Ruskin and George Eliot. As with other examples of American English it is possible that what we now dislike is just a remnant of a form of English that was taken to the New World and continued there, but passed in to disuse in this country.
Other forms of speech that may irritate are originally dialect/regional/cultural that have passed into wider usage - not always in their original meaning.

Friends originally from Massachusetts, subsequently met in Canada, so I did wonder at its provenance.

[LMcD]

Zeugma:

Miss Bolo [...] went straight home, in a flood of tears and a sedan-chair." (Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers, Chapter 35)

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

Thank you! I must have been introduced to litotes and synecdoche at around the same time..
It occurred to me that if the showers mentioned in the forecast are frequent and numerous, they will arrive in droves.

[french frank]

heavier showers would arrive in later in the afternoon. 'Arrive in what?' I wondered, and am still wondering.

A flood of tears and a sedan chair? Our example for zeugma was 'He pocketed the money and the insult.'

[oddoneout]

Thank you! I must have been introduced to litotes and synecdoche at around the same time..
It occurred to me that if the showers mentioned in the forecast are frequent and numerous, they will arrive in droves.

Driven by Hugh the drover?

[LMcD]

While waiting to cross the road this morning, I spotted a local carpenter's van with a large advertisement on its side offering 'NO OBLIGATION QUOTE'S'

[vinteuil]

While waiting to cross the road this morning, I spotted a local carpenter's van with a large advertisement on its side offering 'NO OBLIGATION QUOTE'S'

... pleased to say that here in Shepherd's Bush we still have a glass and mirror shop that advertises its services as - Picture Framers's