Pedants' Paradise

[french frank]

"Scenes of graphic surgery"
I'm not convinced that cut and paste in a design studio needs a trigger warning. The cut and stitch in the operating theatre on the other hand might warrant it...

[Serial_Apologist]

In Radio Times:

10.00 Desert Island Discs
Singer/songwriter Cyndi Lauper shares the soundtrack of her life with Lauren Laverne.

[smittims]

I'll give that a miss. I don't relish listening to recordings of her (or anyone else) eating her dinner and going to the toilet, which is presumably what that would involve.

Poor Roy Plomley would turn in his grave. .

[Serial_Apologist]

I'll give that a miss. I don't relish listening to recordings of her (or anyone else) eating her dinner and going to the toilet, which is presumably what that would involve.

Poor Roy Plomley would turn in his grave. .

To which one of these two life-sharers do you refer?

[Pulcinella]

Grauniad photo caption

Cardinal Angelo De Donatis puts ashes on another cardinals heads during the Ash Wednesday mass at Basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome, Italy.

Even with an apostrophe (another cardinal's) this conjures up a strange image.

I think they intend
Cardinal Angelo De Donatis puts ashes on another cardinal's head during the Ash Wednesday mass at Basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome, Italy.

[kernelbogey]

...I think they intend
Cardinal Angelo De Donatis puts ashes on another cardinal's head during the Ash Wednesday mass at Basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome, Italy.

...or on other cardinals' heads...?

[Pulcinella]

...or on other cardinals' heads...?

That would work (and was my first thought), but the picture actually only shows a singular cardinal receiving the ashes.

(And this thread is now stuck, so needs a reset; I'll alert Andrew/ff.)

[smittims]

(Man to woman lighting cigarette in 'No Smoking' coach) : Excuse me , madam, smoking is prohibited here.

W. But I'm one of the directors' wives!


M. Were you the director's only wife, I still object.

(atributed, as are many apocryphal anecdotes, , to Sir Thomas Beecham).

[french frank]

(And this thread is now stuck, so needs a reset; I'll alert Andrew/ff.)

Setting has been re'd.

[Serial_Apologist]

(Man to woman lighting cigarette in 'No Smoking' coach) : Excuse me , madam, smoking is prohibited here.

W. But I'm one of the directors' wives!


M. Were you the director's only wife, I still object.

(attributed, as are many apocryphal anecdotes, , to Sir Thomas Beecham).

Does anyone here object to the expression "no brainer"? I have managed to avoid using it, as it seems logical to me that a no brainer would have to have come from some being possessing no brain - as in fact I first read it when the expression first came into usage, and it was immiedately apparent it stood for the complete opposite of what I had assumed.

[vinteuil]

Does anyone here object to the expression "no brainer"? I have managed to avoid using it, as it seems logical to me that a no brainer would have to have come from some being possessing no brain - as in fact I first read it when the expression first came into usage, and it was immiedately apparent it stood for the complete opposite of what I had assumed.

... Serial - it's worth holding in mind that 'logical' isn't usually a useful approach when it comes to grammar : language often works by analogy, but 'logic' (in our formal sense and use of the word) doesn't seem to be a primary underlying organising factor.

In this instance : "no brainer" = "you don't need a brain to work out that... "





.

[Pulcinella]

Times headline:

Plant oils reduce risk of dying — while butter increases it

But aren't we all going to die?

[Pulcinella]

I don't like 'before' in this (maybe I should be posting on the Grumble thread!):

As wellwishers gathered for a rosary prayer for Francis, 88, in the collonaded square before St Peter's Basilica, loudspeakers broadcast a brief message from the pontiff, who spoke in a broken and breathless voice — evidence of his weakened condition.

And while I'm at it, I don't like 'below' (rather than following) in phrases such as
Please select from the below options.

[smittims]

I dislike 'no-brainer'. But then I dislike many fashionable phrases such as:

Back in the day...
second-guess (why not just say 'guess'?)
A perfect storm (usually used to describe a most imperfect situation).

[LMcD]

But aren't we all going to die?

I'm no expert, but that's always been my understanding of the situation. Doc Martin regularly told his more anxious patients: 'Yes, you're going to die- but not yet'.