Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[Pabmusic]

If she started each utterance with "Look" she would probably be an Aussie.

Or Tony Blair.

[ahinton]

Or Tony Blair.

Or indeed quite a few other politicians...

[Nick Armstrong]

"our country.... our young people.... our country.... our young people.... our... "

[Don Petter]

"our country.... our young people.... our country.... our young people.... our... "

Ours not to reason why.

[Radio64]

Doable (do-able? - how do you even spell it?) - meaning 'can be done'.

Whatever happened to feasible ??


..what next? Eatable?

[ahinton]

"our country.... our young people.... our country.... our young people.... our... "

I do so agree with you. As I've had on more occasions than I can remember to pull up member Grew on his habitual misuse of the first person plural, who's this "we"; likewise "our". I wonder what Maurice Ohana would have made of the notion "my country"? It's an issue that raises itself every time people talk about the gestures that UK government has made to save certain banks from failing; I didn't ask to have shares in those businesses and their not "my" banks just because government has helped them out as it has - likewise England is the country that I live in at the moment, but that doesn't make it "mine" and, in any case, even if it did, possession isn't anyting like nine-tenths of the law...

"Hard-working families" often goes in tandem with this; it's been cited in this thread before, of course, but I'm not sure that anyone who's done so has yet commented on its discriminatory nature where people without children (like me) are concerned...

[gurnemanz]

Doable (do-able? - how do you even spell it?) - meaning 'can be done'.

Whatever happened to feasible ??

I can sympathise up to a point. OED makes a case for it with the example: "none of the jobs were fun, but they were doable". This seems to be justified because it refers back to "doing a job". "Feasible" would not fit as well here.

[jean]

There is a difference, I think - doable is more immediate 'I/we can do this' - feasible is more like 'somebody might do this if they chose'.

Feasible may also have been contaminated by the use of unfeasibly with the adjective of your choice to mean unbelievably, impossibly.

For example...

[mangerton]

Doable (do-able? - how do you even spell it?) - meaning 'can be done'.

Whatever happened to feasible ??


..what next? Eatable?

"Eatable" has been used for around one hundred years. Bertie Wooster often lauded his Aunt Dahlia's chef Anatole, who regularly served "unbeatable eatables".

[Hornspieler]

twentyfour seven

Noocular

Aloominum

(Sorry, RichardFG)

[Nick Armstrong]

"Eatable" has been used for around one hundred years. Bertie Wooster often lauded his Aunt Dahlia's chef Anatole, who regularly served "unbeatable eatables".

[ahinton]

"Eatable" has been used for around one hundred years. Bertie Wooster often lauded his Aunt Dahlia's chef Anatole, who regularly served "unbeatable eatables".

Not to mention Wilde's take on the "sport" of hunting in Britain as "the unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable" (from which, more than a century later, it remains hard to dissent).

[Pabmusic]

...Aloominum

(Sorry, RichardFG)

This is (perhaps) understandable. Humphrey Davey named the element Alumium in 1807. Then he changed it to Aluminum. The he changed his mind again, coming up with Aluminium in 1812. He had already name potassium,sodium and magnesium, so it accorded with the -ium ending). However, in the USA the second version (aluminum) had already gained prominence. Noah Webster's Dictionary of 1828 endorsed it,though American pharmacists seem to have preferred Aluminium, and both the -um and -ium forms seem to have been used throughout the 19th Century. The American Chemical Society adopted -um in 1925.

But the confusion must rest with Humphrey Davey.

[mangerton]

This is (perhaps) understandable. Humphrey Davey named the element Alumium in 1807. Then he changed it to Aluminum. The he changed his mind again, coming up with Aluminium in 1812. He had already name potassium,sodium and magnesium, so it accorded with the -ium ending). However, in the USA the second version (aluminum) had already gained prominence. Noah Webster's Dictionary of 1828 endorsed it,though American pharmacists seem to have preferred Aluminium, and both the -um and -ium forms seem to have been used throughout the 19th Century. The American Chemical Society adopted -um in 1925.

But the confusion must rest with Humphrey Davey.

That's most interesting. Thinking about potassium and sodium, I can see where he got the ideas (potash, soda). But these elements also have Latin names - kalium and natrium respectively, whence we get their chemical symbols K and Na. As Humphry Davy discovered these elements, I wonder who coined the Latin names - and why. Does anyone know?

[P. G. Tipps]

That's most interesting. Thinking about potassium and sodium, I can see where he got the ideas (potash, soda). But these elements also have Latin names - kalium and natrium respectively, whence we get their chemical symbols K and Na. As Humphry Davy discovered these elements, I wonder who coined the Latin names - and why. Does anyone know?

Can't find the answer to precisely 'who' but the following link is interesting, mangerton ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/0/24460393

A few more of my personal aural irritations ...

'It's a really good read ... '

'The total Government spend ... '

'White, middle-class, middle-aged men in grey suits ... '

(Watch your backs, folks! )