Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[Richard Barrett]

A group of no doubt well-meaning mostly elderly white men attempting to tell the rest of the population not to say "le weekend" strikes me as presumptuous and futile rather than admirable. Languages flow freely like rivers finding their own path. Academicians attempt to impose on them the concrete banks of a canal.

There was also the neue Rechtschreibung of 1996 though of course that was only tinkering with some spellings rather than imposing new words. I don't know about you but I find many Germans of a certain age are wont to complain about the increasing prevalence of anglicisms in German.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

You think of it as a nurturing, I would say a stagnation. It's akin to multiculturalism, only it's multigenerational, egalitarian. No generation can say, "Our way is the only way - the correct way." Each generation adjusts it in ways that suit their society. Language never stands still.

Add: what gurnemanz said.

There's no simple answer. The recent announcement by the Academie, permitting the omission of circumflex accents where they were unnecessary was achieved by international agreement.
As far as English is concerned, there's a wide gulf between 'anything goes' and rigid adherence to a frozen point in time.

Learning Spanish is most refreshing. Spellings, pronunciation and grammar are helpfully rational. I'm sure there are anomalies in everyday speech, akin to Anglo/American prepoverbs like 'gonna', 'gorra' and 'worra'.

[french frank]

The recent announcement by the Academie, permitting the omission of circumflex accents where they were unnecessary was achieved by international agreement.

Language is what people use. Even Latin had a colloquial form - and if it hadn't, they'd still be speaking Latin over a large part of Europe. With the coming of the internet and social media, people are to a greater extent writing down what they hear and what they ordinarily say. In 'real life' the French are far less fussy about their accents when they're writing quickly. Usage: things wear out.

https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/informal-pronouns/

As far as English is concerned, there's a wide gulf between 'anything goes' and rigid adherence to a frozen point in time.

We're probably somewhere between those two extremes, aren't we? As has been pointed out, many of the grammatical 'rules' of English were imposed by Oxbridge educated Victorians. They are what we, older people, learnt at school; but those weren't the rules observed in the past, and a loosening in current times is irreversible. We are not Victorians.

Learning Spanish is most refreshing. Spellings, pronunciation and grammar are helpfully rational. I'm sure there are anomalies in everyday speech, akin to Anglo/American prepoverbs like 'gonna', 'gorra' and 'worra'.

Languages can support different registers, depending on the purpose for which it's being used.

[Keraulophone]

The weather forecaster on BBC1 informed viewers just now that some parts of the country will experience ‘some useful weather’. For surfing, sunbathing, gardening or generating, I’d like to know?

[cloughie]

The weather forecaster on BBC1 informed viewers just now that some parts of the country will experience ‘some useful weather’. For surfing, sunbathing, gardening or generating, I’d like to know?

Best stick to the real forecasting from Kevin on Radio Cornwall and David Braine on Spotlight! I think the departure of Justin Leigh fro Spotlight is an indicator of the BBC reducing local provision, Keraulophone.

[kernelbogey]

...Porridge shop is a new one(thing?) on me I must admit.

Et moi: I genuinely thought FF had made it up. (But of course 'you couldn't make it up'. )

[kernelbogey]

(FF 5843) With the coming of the internet and social media, people are to a greater extent writing down what they hear and what they ordinarily say.

The wonderful Secret History of Writing (BBC4 - now on iPlayer) third episode had a fascinating section about how Chinese teenagers are using Latin script to text via a newly created textspeak (can't remember its name) which allows them to key in Chinese words phonetically (IIRC) in Latin script, and the software then converts the words to traditional Chinese pictograms. In effect it's become a teenage dialect, and anyone over 26-27 is shut out.

[Padraig]

Hence, it's a Thing.

Here's the Thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_IL3w4xfds

[Pulcinella]

Here's the Thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_IL3w4xfds

Did the whole Thing thing not start with The Addams Family?

The dimly seen Thing (later a disembodied hand) was introduced in 1954.

according to Wiki.

Thing T. Thing, often referred to as just Thing, is a fictional character in The Addams Family series. Thing was originally conceived as a whole creature (always seen in the background watching the family) that was too horrible to see in person. The only part of it that was tolerable was its human hand (this can be seen in the 1964 television series). The Addamses called it "Thing" because it was something that could not be identified. Thing was changed to a disembodied hand for the 1991 and 1993 Addams Family films.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thing_(The_Addams_Family)

[Padraig]

Did the whole Thing thing not start with The Addams Family?

Thanks for reminding me, Pulcinella, and a happy memory too. The thing is, I was a big fan of Wednesday.

[french frank]

I genuinely thought FF had made it up.

Would I do that? No, I first heard of the Bristol Porridge Project and thought it was a whacky idea for young people to meet for breakfast - porridge, granola, muesli, fruit juices etc.

Now I see them in London (where else?), Birmingham, Norwich, er … Hong Kong (just googled to refresh the inner parts of my memory). Lordy, how we do wander from the topic!

[Padraig]

Lordy, how we do wander from the topic!

To wander back, may I add to the lexicon a phrase just recently used in a casual manner, to wit 'bleeding chunks', on the grounds that it is in bad taste other than in a butcher's shop.

[french frank]

To wander back, may I add to the lexicon a phrase just recently used in a casual manner, to wit 'bleeding chunks', on the grounds that it is in bad taste other than in a butcher's shop.

Probably designed to leave a bad taste, as only those who disapprove would use the phrase?

[kernelbogey]

Probably designed to leave a bad taste, as only those who disapprove would use the phrase?

It's so last century.

[kernelbogey]

Pappano has just said '[in this opera] The duets are the Thing'.