Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

"I've got perfect pitch."

Very useful for sealing ships.

[Serial_Apologist]

Very useful for sealing ships.

Or golf

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

"Show" when they mean "programme".

[Serial_Apologist]

I see that there is a programme on Radio 4 tomorrow night at 8 pm asking why politicans speak the way they do. Maybe I'll get some answers I asked on here a few weeks ago as to the use of the repeated rhetorical statement!

[P. G. Tipps]

'Chair' when referring to a supposedly animate object called a human being.

What on earth is wrong with Chairman/Chairwoman?

If I were a chair I'd complain bitterly about being mistaken for either sort of human being ...

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

'Chair' when referring to a supposedly animate object called a human being.

What on earth is wrong with Chairman/Chairwoman?

If I were a chair I'd complain bitterly about being mistaken for either sort of human being ...

Professor Slughorn was a chair for a while.

[jean]

Easy mistake to make, though:

[french frank]

'Chair' when referring to a supposedly animate object called a human being.

Well, one can chair a meeting. What on earth is that supposed to mean? Chair a meeting? If I were a chair ...

What on earth is wrong with Chairman/Chairwoman?

Possibly not a lot per se. But chair is shorter, so it's an abbreviation, more economical. Like when we get off a bus and say, 'Cheers, drive!' ('Thank you, driver').

[jean]

Just think of it as an example of metonymy. And not so very recent, either:

1658–9 T. Burton Diary 23 Mar. (1828) 243 The Chair behaves himself like a Busby amongst so many school-boys‥and takes a little too much on him.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

But chair is shorter, so it's an abbreviation, more economical. Like when we get off a bus and say, 'Cheers, drive!' ('Thank you, driver').

Or, indeed, when we say "bus".


(Or "phone" or "telly".)

And people often "shelve" a project (often at the suggestion of the Chair.)

[vinteuil]

And people often "shelve" a project (often at the suggestion of the Chair.)

... (that'll floor him!)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... (that'll floor him!)

I wonder if, when "omnibus" was first used to describe the vehicle that carried "everyone", there were those who objected? "Do these people even know what they're saying? 'I'm going to catch the "everybody"' - It's all [[I]whatever they called "political correctness" in the days before sliced bread] gone mad, just to indoctrinate me into thinking that the oiks have as much right to travel as I do! Well, I'm not going to use them, so it's not 'everybody', is it?!"

[Segilla]

Unlikely ever to adopted, but Chair'n would cover both sexes. Such format would cover many other cases.

[When I did an OU course (D102?) many years ago two pages were devoted to explaining the difference between sex and gender but on my very imperfect recollection the explanation was contrary to the frequent misuse IMHO, of 'gender' these days].

[Pabmusic]

I wonder if, when "omnibus" was first used to describe the vehicle that carried "everyone", there were those who objected? "Do these people even know what they're saying? 'I'm going to catch the "everybody"' - It's all [[I]whatever they called "political correctness" in the days before sliced bread] gone mad, just to indoctrinate me into thinking that the oiks have as much right to travel as I do! Well, I'm not going to use them, so it's not 'everybody', is it?!"

Sorry, Ferney, but there seems to be a touch of classical confusion here. Omnibus is Latin, the dative or ablative plural of omnis, and thus means "for everyone" or "everybody's" - whether they use it or not.

I feel 16 again!

[ahinton]

"I've got perfect pitch."

Boasting about one's roof, as in?....