If you could offer listeners your solutions to all the problems in the world, in two minutes.... Yes, yes, yes (Andrew Marr): I'm sorry, I'm afraid we're out of time.
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I'd thought that this was John Humphrys' line but I suppose that the two of them share it...Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View PostComment
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David Hepworth is excellent on this infuriating issue in the new Radio Times in a Sound Bites column headed Radio needs to mind its manners:Originally posted by ahinton View Post
'[...] The phrases used most frequently on live radio, particularly news programmes, are "Have to hurry you" and "That's all we've got time for". The only sensible response to these two lines are "How rude" and "Whose fault is that?" The producers organise the time and the material to go into it: it's not divinely ordained. Radio programmes, like airlines, overbook to make life easier for themselves, relying on the fact that people will be so flattered to be asked they won't object. They line up three expert opinions, knowing that one will be lucky to get a complete sentence out. You can hear it happening. Discussion items begin at a leisurely pace and end in undignified haste as the presenter scrambles to cover what they are supposed to cover ...'. (P.115)
Good for David Hepworth for speaking out. But will the overpaid mostly (but not, sadly, solely) male interviewer/hosts listen? Will they hell! You either hear the interviewee's final sentance spinning out as the now inattentive BBC person shuffles notes together in readiness for passing to a successor, or it's "yes, yes, yes", yet again making the point that you've said enough and I'm no longer listening, as you're not as important as me.Comment
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"Nothing is more effective than . . . " So take nothing. By their own admission it's more effective than the snake oil they are trying to sell you.Comment
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Ah, yes, that reminds me of the old advert gag about Anadin; "nothing acts faster than Anadin - so why not take nothing?"...Originally posted by Bryn View PostComment
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"The reason being is that......"
"...the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."
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Related I suspect to "The thing is is that...", which is presumably derived from the grammatically anaysable cleft (or is it pseudo-cleft?) structure "What it is, is that..." where the rhythm is the same.
You'll never stop it now.Comment
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Yes, "the thing is is that..." is equallyOriginally posted by jean View Post
And I agree - that ship has sailed
"...the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."
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I seem to remember, as a child, being shown a sentance in which the word "is" is repeated numerous times, with various intervening marks of punctuation, and we were told that it made perfect grammatical sense.Originally posted by Caliban View PostYes, "the thing is is that..." is equally
And I agree - that ship has sailed
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Like the one with eleven 'hads'.Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View PostIt isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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And there's one composed mainly of ands, too, isn't there?Comment
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"You need more space between the Pig and and and and and Whistle".Originally posted by jean View PostComment
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The name Todd Blackadder because the fact that it is real seems implausible.Comment
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AH, that's maybe the one I was actually thinking of!Originally posted by french frank View Post
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Originally posted by Lat-Literal View Post
And he probably finds himself on his Todd quite a lot as a consequence! 
(Incidentally, I wonder what the derivation of that expression is. Rhyming slang, maybe?)Comment
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