Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[mangerton]

Oh! I thought that was discipuli? (As in Discipuli pictoram spectatae.)


... as I have said before, I could have been a High Court Judge, but ....

Well, according to my Chambers, and my Latin dictionary confirms it. Pupillus and pupilla diminutives of pupus and pupa. Also, in statu pupillari

As you say, discipulus also means pupil, or apprentice.

(I take it you're a miner, then. Another PC fan - as discussed by Caliban and me earlier this evening, oddly enough.)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Another PC fan - as discussed by Caliban and me earlier this evening, oddly enough.)

[Flosshilde]

'Wake up & smell the tea' - just said on R4 news by an associate of GW Bush.

[Flosshilde]

Well, according to my Chambers, and my Latin dictionary confirms it. Pupillus and pupilla diminutives of pupus and pupa. Also, in statu pupillari

Anything to do with insect pupae?

[Nick Armstrong]

(I take it you're a miner, then. Another PC fan - as discussed by Caliban and me earlier this evening, oddly enough.)

PC fan?... I've lost you... (It's been a long day!)

Edit: PETER COOK!!!! (Got there in the end!)

[Roslynmuse]

And Personnel Department became Human Resources ..... and ceased caring about humans and merely ticked boxes for a living.

HR = Human Remains where I work...

Another pet hate - "simples" (usually accompanied by a smug, patronising look).

[handsomefortune]

human remains .... gulp

yes abbreviates much more aptly than 'piranhas' for instance......!

with you on 'simples' too ...nauseating or what!

the robotic prefix 'i have to say' is my weak spot... i think, (along with dozen/s of others already listed).

[Pabmusic]

'E' . Goes back to my sub-editing days (ageing, axeing) where different papers had their 'house styles'. One insisted on 'Rumania' (obviously hadn't been updated for some time), the other on 'protestor'. I had to alter spellings that I considered 'correct' to alternatives which were 'less usual'...

Style guides represent arbitrary decisions, of course, so they're replete with such things.

As far as axeing/axing goes - quite apart from any authorities - the older spelling of 'axe' is 'ax', so unless the verb form is relatively recent*, you might expect it to be 'axing'. 'Axing' also existed as a common variant of 'asking' - which is entirely irrelevant, but interesting nonetheless.

*[Which it may well be, in which case the issue becomes one of clarity. And 'axing' must be clearer than 'axeing', which carries the (momentary) question of pronunciation. By the way, the spellchecker on this machine won't accept 'axeing' without a fight. When the word was very new, it might even have been 'axe-ing' of course.]

[Ferretfancy]

This thread has been a learning curve for me!

[MrGongGong]

"And now from the Three Choirs Festival a live broadcast of Elgar's greatest Oratorio" ......................

[Sydney Grew]

The noun "remit" . . .

[MrGongGong]

The word

"Homo-sexualist"

"Margarine" as pronounced by Robert Robinson ....... (getting a bit niche here maybe ?)

[Nick Armstrong]

The word

"Homo-sexualist"

"Margarine" as pronounced by Robert Robinson ....... (getting a bit niche here maybe ?)

A little...

I hate it when lawyers say "I will revert"... meaning they'll contact me again. "Plonkers" I always think...

[Pabmusic]

"And now from the Three Choirs Festival a live broadcast of Elgar's greatest Oratorio" ......................

Even if no-one else has noticed, I have. You are repeating yourself (see post 10). Is this an uncontrollable urge? Agerontism? Gerontiphobia?

[cloughie]

It's unsustainable how sustainable has been used and abused.