Pedants' Paradise

[Sir Velo]

Talking of which, am I unreasonable to have been appalled that a person whose profession concerns lexicography and languages (the guest on Private Passions today) should have pronounced ‘Montreux’ Mon trou ?

Mon dieu!

[Serial_Apologist]

Talking of which, am I unreasonable to have been appalled that a person whose profession concerns lexicography and languages (the guest on Private Passions today) should have pronounced ‘Montreux’ Mon trou ?

Americans always seem to refer to Montrow whenever mentioning the jazz festival. To rhyme with "burrow", but not "Moss Cow"!

[Pulcinella]

From a school governor in a letter in today's Times.

We should also look objectively at the volume of children who are not toilet trained before starting school, poor attendance, rising levels of child tooth extraction, hunger, obesity, mental health problems, violence, knife crime and safeguarding, to name but a few challenges. These are real-world scenarios that schools have responded to out of necessity, in part because of gaps in parenting.

When the volume gets too high I tell the Year 5 kids to pipe down!
I'd just about be happy with 'amount' instead, but what's wrong with 'number'?

[oliver sudden]

Talking of which, am I unreasonable to have been appalled that a person whose profession concerns lexicography and languages (the guest on Private Passions today) should have pronounced ‘Montreux’ Mon trou ?

Any excuse for this…

https://youtu.be/Or66XEGPgbE?feature=shared

[LMcD]

Talking of which, am I unreasonable to have been appalled that a person whose profession concerns lexicography and languages (the guest on Private Passions today) should have pronounced ‘Montreux’ Mon trou ?

She must dig herself out of it.

[Old Grumpy]

From a school governor in a letter in today's Times.




I'd just about be happy with 'amount' instead, but what's wrong with 'number'?

This is a school governor speaking...


...perhaps children are just a commodity

[cloughie]

Americans always seem to refer to Montrow whenever mentioning the jazz festival. To rhyme with "burrow", but not "Moss Cow"!

Like Montro(se). Sky Arts on Saturday night showed Nina Simone’s 1976 concert from that very place!

[french frank]

When the volume gets too high I tell the Year 5 kids to pipe down!
I'd just about be happy with 'amount' instead, but what's wrong with 'number'?

I think of an amount - and a number - as being static: volume (of rainwater, sound &c) as increasing and decreasing. So to me, 'volume of children' here vaguely conveys 'an increasing number', or could be decreasing depending on context. ?????? 'Numbers' in the plural could go up or down, I suppose. Or perhaps just up? the sort of case one might change one's mind about.

[vinteuil]

Talking of which, am I unreasonable to have been appalled that a person whose profession concerns lexicography and languages (the guest on Private Passions today) should have pronounced ‘Montreux’ Mon trou ?

... I think unreasonable to have been 'appalled' : 'surprized' perhaps.

I see wiki has various pronunciations on offer : (UK: /mɒ̃ˈtrɜː/, US: /mɒ̃ˈtroʊ/; French: [mɔ̃tʁø] ; Arpitan (ie Francoprovençal) : Montrolx)

As she is an Australian...

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

.

[smittims]

and re 'volume' I'm always amused at 'escalated' used always to mean 'increased'. Escalators go down as well as up.

[vinteuil]

and re 'volume' I'm always amused at 'escalated' used always to mean 'increased'. Escalators go down as well as up.

... a colleague always used to fulminate at 'quality' as in 'this is a quality product'.

"Do they mean bad quality?"

.

[smittims]

Aha! In the days of 'class distinction' The Quality used to mean the 'upper' classes.

[Pulcinella]

Aha! In the days of 'class distinction' The Quality used to mean the 'upper' classes.

And The Times was once a quality newspaper!

[Serial_Apologist]

From a school governor in a letter in today's Times.



When the volume gets too high I tell the Year 5 kids to pipe down!
I'd just about be happy with 'amount' instead, but what's wrong with 'number'?

And as for "real world scenarios".... well really!!! And people complain about low British educational standards!

[Old Grumpy]

And The Times was once a quality newspaper!

In the days before Murdoch, perhaps?