Alang wrote:
On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 05:20:04 -0800 (PST), "Man at B&Q"
wrote:
On Dec 10, 7:41 pm, Alang wrote:
On Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:24:32 GMT, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:
Alang wrote:
On Wed, 10 Dec 2008 08:54:33 +0000, Rod
wrote:
TheOldFellow wrote:
I note an exasperating trend on this list, and on t'internet in
general, to personal reinvention of English spelling and
grammar. For
instance: the Whitworth spellings for the various flavours of
'your and you're' (as opposed to the UNF or Metric, of course)
are as follows:
'You're' means 'you are', 'your' never ever means that.
'Your' is a possessive pronoun, and can only be used when you
mean that something belongs to 'you'.
Do try and get it right folks, as the grating sounds of the
crossed-threads in my brain are getting irritating.
R.
Didn't you miss yaw and yore?
And who can ignore the "upto" neologism? And its close brethren -
inappropriate use of into, onto and so on.
tow the line.
principle and principal
there and their
I confess to misusing licence and license. Can never recall which
is which so I adopt the american usage and use either
interchangeably
But.
cod philosophy
cod latin
why cod?
Always puzzled me.
I have asked a number of graduates in english over the years and
none can tell me. One had Phd and was a rabid pedant over the use
of english and even he couldn't tell me.
http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-cod2.htm
HTH
A more likely explanation but needs some confirmation
Also ties in with the kid/cod link since I've always known it as
kidology.
I never realised the connection between kidding and cod but it could
fit.
That could well be it; "Cod is a little-used slang word meaning 'to hoax or
take a rise out of', known since at least 1873. It was used in much the same
way we now use the verb 'to kid'."
From;
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/codswallop.html
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--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk