Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I don't think it's a case of making the noun a verb - the nouns CURate (ecclesiastical) and curator (legal) are both medieval forns from the Latin curare; but the verb curATE is a C20 backformation from curator in its art-gallery sense.

More accurate than mine

Is there any connection with the dart poison, or is this just an ironic coincidence?

[jean]

Probably!

Curare, n.

Etymology: A corruption of the name ( /wuˈrɑli/ or /wuˈrɑri/ ) also written wourali , woorari , ourali , ourari , wourara , etc., in the language of the Macusi Indians of Guyana, a Carib dialect. The consonant of the last syllable varies between l and r . In French curare . (The initial c is said to represent a click or catch in the original pronunciation.)

[Flay]

Is there any connection with the dart poison, or is this just an ironic coincidence?

Nope.

A corruption of the name ( /wuˈrɑli/ or /wuˈrɑri/ ) also written wourali , woorari , ourali , ourari , wourara , etc., in the language of the Macusi Indians of Guyana, a Carib dialect. The consonant of the last syllable varies between l and r . (The initial c is said to represent a click or catch in the original pronunciation.)

[Flay]

Ha ha, you beat me to it with an opposite conclusion Jean!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Ha ha, you beat me to it with an opposite conclusion Jean!

No- I think the "probably" refers to the "ironic coincidence"

[Flay]

[jean]

Almost certainly!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I wish people would not call a piece of music a "number." Donald Macleod does this repeatedly. There are plenty of other terms to use without resorting to pop music terms.

At least it's better than calling it a "song".

[MrGongGong]

At least it's better than calling it a "song".

I think that battle is lost

[Nick Armstrong]

"Portillo's State Secrets"

It's a BBC2 early evening filler which I set to record in case there was anything of interest, and have skimmed a couple - the odd item in the National Archives intriguing to see, but that is positive obliterated by the ludicrous and almost nightmarish negative of some of the filmed introductions by Portaloo !!

Before some of the segments (there are 3 per programme), a line of intro. is inserted, filmed outside. Someone's obviously told Miguel that he needs to make it dramatic, with the result that the former MP is depicted enunciating his line with appalling melodramatic emphasis and expressions and gestures. It's hideous and fake and someone needs shooting!

Try the introductions to the silly segments about Kitchener (at 11'30") and UFOs (at 17'00") in programme 4.... http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...ts-4-mysteries

Almost fascinatingly teeth-grating and horrendous !!!!!!

[P. G. Tipps]

"Portillo's State Secrets"

It's a BBC2 early evening filler which I set to record in case there was anything of interest, and have skimmed a couple - the odd item in the National Archives intriguing to see, but that is positive obliterated by the ludicrous and almost nightmarish negative of some of the filmed introductions by Portaloo !!

Before some of the segments (there are 3 per programme), a line of intro. is inserted, filmed outside. Someone's obviously told Miguel that he needs to make it dramatic, with the result that the former MP is depicted enunciating his line with appalling melodramatic emphasis and expressions and gestures. It's hideous and fake and someone needs shooting!

Try the introductions to the silly segments about Kitchener (at 11'30") and UFOs (at 17'00") in programme 4.... http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...ts-4-mysteries

Almost fascinatingly teeth-grating and horrendous !!!!!!

I agree ... this series is excruciating in the extreme.

At heart, of course, Portillo is an actor being an ex-politician, but to see him admitting he knows nothing about football and yet wearing a huge Millwall scarf for the cameras must have been one of the silliest, more patronising things he has ever done, even when he was a Government Minister.

None of the 'State Secrets' he has so far revealed produced anything we haven't known for donkey's years.

Frankly, he should get back on a train and go on a secret vacation for a while, while the programme-makers can come up with something that is even remotely interesting and educational.

[ahinton]

Portaloo

I thought that she was a Mauritian chef...

[P. G. Tipps]

Sadly, it's increasingly the words 'British Broadcasting Corporation'

Peter Snow doing his over-animated General Election stuff on BBC TV was good for a laugh and a bit of light relief for the viewer.

But the bizarre sight of Jeremy Vine attemping exactly the same sort of delivery a whole new generation later is utterly ridiculous.

Why can't presenters simply be allowed to be themselves and not have to act in accordance with unbelievably stupid management diktat?

[Stanfordian]

The phrase 'Not at all' is still being used regularly in The Archers and it's still bugging me. I absolutely never hear it used anywhere else. It's what I always think of as Agatha Christie language as used in 1920s-50s.

[Ferretfancy]

Tonight's Portillo about spies had an entertaining section about the farcical escape from the Scrubs of the spy George Blake, and the documents detailing the interrogation of Guy Fawkes were fascinating.

This was a better than usual offering in an indifferent series, Portillo should stick to the choo choos.