Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...


--
"Nature does not give up the winter because people dislike the cold."

ۥ Confucius

On 31/08/2020 20:35, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

And news readers refer to nearly all events in the present tense.

And many people begin both questions and answers with 'so'.

On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:04:20 +0100, S Viemeister
wrote:

On 31/08/2020 20:35, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

And news readers refer to nearly all events in the present tense.

And many people begin both questions and answers with 'so'.

And the younger generation try to get an expletive into every
sentence.

On 31/08/2020 21:15, Scott wrote:
On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:04:20 +0100, S Viemeister
On 31/08/2020 20:35, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

And news readers refer to nearly all events in the present tense.

And many people begin both questions and answers with 'so'.

And the younger generation try to get an expletive into every
sentence.

'An' expletive??? There are people who scatter them liberally through
every sentence. Not just youngsters, either.

On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:30:07 +0100, S Viemeister
wrote:

On 31/08/2020 21:15, Scott wrote:
On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:04:20 +0100, S Viemeister
On 31/08/2020 20:35, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

And news readers refer to nearly all events in the present tense.

And many people begin both questions and answers with 'so'.

And the younger generation try to get an expletive into every
sentence.

'An' expletive??? There are people who scatter them liberally through
every sentence. Not just youngsters, either.

Maybe I was underestimating the ingenuity of the younger generation.

I remember being told in my youth that the real skill was to fragment
polysyllabic words in order to insert a swear word (eg tele - f****g -
scope). He also said that the fine and noble English word c**t was
sadly becoming extinct and it was our moral duty to use the word where
possible to keep it alive. I think that problem has been resolved.

On 31/08/2020 21:15, Scott wrote:
On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:04:20 +0100, S Viemeister
wrote:

On 31/08/2020 20:35, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

And news readers refer to nearly all events in the present tense.

And many people begin both questions and answers with 'so'.

And the younger generation try to get an expletive into every
sentence.


The ****ing ****er's ****ed!

--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On 31/08/2020 21:37, Scott wrote:
On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:30:07 +0100, S Viemeister
On 31/08/2020 21:15, Scott wrote:
On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:04:20 +0100, S Viemeister
On 31/08/2020 20:35, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...
And news readers refer to nearly all events in the present tense.
And many people begin both questions and answers with 'so'.
And the younger generation try to get an expletive into every
sentence.
'An' expletive??? There are people who scatter them liberally through
every sentence. Not just youngsters, either.
Maybe I was underestimating the ingenuity of the younger generation.

I remember being told in my youth that the real skill was to fragment
polysyllabic words in order to insert a swear word (eg tele - f****g -
scope). He also said that the fine and noble English word c**t was
sadly becoming extinct and it was our moral duty to use the word where
possible to keep it alive. I think that problem has been resolved.

I had a sheltered childhood. I didn't learn those words until I met
people from Glasgow.

On 21:04 31 Aug 2020, S Viemeister said:
On 31/08/2020 20:35, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

And news readers refer to nearly all events in the present tense.

And many people begin both questions and answers with 'so'.

"So" is annoying. Presumably starting a sentence with "so" is seen as
some clever broadcasting segue but to me it is grating.

Has there been some self-help guide or communication guru who started the
current craze?






--
xpost: alt.usage.english

On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 20:35:49 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

Do you have specific examples you'd like to share? English verbs lost
their plural inflections around 900 years ago when Old English evolved
into Middle English. You might want to check out "dangling
participles" while you're at it.

On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:37:19 +0100, Scott
wrote:

On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:30:07 +0100, S Viemeister
wrote:

On 31/08/2020 21:15, Scott wrote:
On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:04:20 +0100, S Viemeister
On 31/08/2020 20:35, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

And news readers refer to nearly all events in the present tense.

And many people begin both questions and answers with 'so'.

And the younger generation try to get an expletive into every
sentence.

'An' expletive??? There are people who scatter them liberally through
every sentence. Not just youngsters, either.

Maybe I was underestimating the ingenuity of the younger generation.

I remember being told in my youth that the real skill was to fragment
polysyllabic words in order to insert a swear word (eg tele - f****g -
scope).

Abso-****ing-lutely. The process even has a name - "tmesis"

He also said that the fine and noble English word c**t was
sadly becoming extinct and it was our moral duty to use the word where
possible to keep it alive. I think that problem has been resolved.

On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:56:55 +0100, S Viemeister
wrote:

On 31/08/2020 21:37, Scott wrote:
On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:30:07 +0100, S Viemeister
On 31/08/2020 21:15, Scott wrote:
On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:04:20 +0100, S Viemeister
On 31/08/2020 20:35, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...
And news readers refer to nearly all events in the present tense.
And many people begin both questions and answers with 'so'.
And the younger generation try to get an expletive into every
sentence.
'An' expletive??? There are people who scatter them liberally through
every sentence. Not just youngsters, either.
Maybe I was underestimating the ingenuity of the younger generation.

I remember being told in my youth that the real skill was to fragment
polysyllabic words in order to insert a swear word (eg tele - f****g -
scope). He also said that the fine and noble English word c**t was
sadly becoming extinct and it was our moral duty to use the word where
possible to keep it alive. I think that problem has been resolved.

I had a sheltered childhood. I didn't learn those words until I met
people from Glasgow.

According to the OED, the earliest record of the word "****" was in
Scots. It's our gift to the world :-)

On 31 Aug 2020 at 22:30:39 BST, "Custos Custodum" wrote:

On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 20:35:49 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

Do you have specific examples you'd like to share? English verbs lost
their plural inflections around 900 years ago when Old English evolved
into Middle English. You might want to check out "dangling
participles" while you're at it.

I assumed he must have been thinking of tenses; but confused.

--
Roger Hayter

On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 20:35:49 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

There's also a lot of people using the wrong case of certain verbs such as
'He sung the song', no he didn't he sang it, now it's been sung. Similarly
'The boat sunk', no it didn't, it sank, now it's been sunk.

--
TOJ.

On 31/08/2020 22:41, Roger Hayter wrote:
On 31 Aug 2020 at 22:30:39 BST, "Custos Custodum" wrote:

On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 20:35:49 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

Do you have specific examples you'd like to share? English verbs lost
their plural inflections around 900 years ago when Old English evolved
into Middle English. You might want to check out "dangling
participles" while you're at it.

I assumed he must have been thinking of tenses; but confused.


There is so many clever posters here. They always catches people out on
such points.

--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid

On 31/08/2020 22:30, Custos Custodum wrote:
On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 20:35:49 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

Do you have specific examples you'd like to share? English verbs lost
their plural inflections around 900 years ago when Old English evolved
into Middle English. You might want to check out "dangling
participles" while you're at it.

Third person verbs don't have an s at the end if plural:

I love
You love
He/she loves ---
We love
You love
They love

--
Max Demian

On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 20:35:49 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

Newscasters have trouble with 'H' saying 'istory, 'istoric etc. I know
the French can't pronounce it.

When the US started to redesign English, you do the Math.
Brian

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"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct verb
in the plural form...


--
"Nature does not give up the winter because people dislike the cold."

? Confucius

Well many also use Well, mind you The current English translation of the
Bible begins many verses with And.
Language evolves. I have no issue with it myself. The sooner we can stop
moaning bout the correct use of apostrophe's the better. grin.
Brian

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"S Viemeister" wrote in message
...
On 31/08/2020 20:35, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

And news readers refer to nearly all events in the present tense.

And many people begin both questions and answers with 'so'.

That is just like the use of um though.The expletive has lost its shock
power, and the other wone that starts with C does not lend itself to use in
that way. The F word I find amusing as it would seem if taken literally, the
inanimate objects often are copulating most of the time.
Brian

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"Scott" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:04:20 +0100, S Viemeister
wrote:

On 31/08/2020 20:35, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

And news readers refer to nearly all events in the present tense.

And many people begin both questions and answers with 'so'.

And the younger generation try to get an expletive into every
sentence.

There have been attempts over the years to invent new expletives. Maybe we
need some now. It appears from research that uttering a string of powerful
expletives when you are not known for it helps with pain relief, which is
why they often occur when you hit your finger with the hammer instead of the
nail. It has something to do with the brain releasing endorphins when you
do something a little edgy.
I remember Battlestar Galactica had some new words that were used like
would use swear words. The only one I can remember was Felbercarb.
Brian

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"Scott" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:30:07 +0100, S Viemeister
wrote:

On 31/08/2020 21:15, Scott wrote:
On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:04:20 +0100, S Viemeister
On 31/08/2020 20:35, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

And news readers refer to nearly all events in the present tense.

And many people begin both questions and answers with 'so'.

And the younger generation try to get an expletive into every
sentence.

'An' expletive??? There are people who scatter them liberally through
every sentence. Not just youngsters, either.

Maybe I was underestimating the ingenuity of the younger generation.

I remember being told in my youth that the real skill was to fragment
polysyllabic words in order to insert a swear word (eg tele - f****g -
scope). He also said that the fine and noble English word c**t was
sadly becoming extinct and it was our moral duty to use the word where
possible to keep it alive. I think that problem has been resolved.

I looked them up at school. They seemed to be pretty much tame, and the way
they are used now is weird. Who decided they were any worse than copulate
and vagina?
I suspect it was meaning drift which has happened to many words over the
years.
Gay has been changed of course, but is not considered derogatory like the
others. I do notice that most of the really bad words are short. Even ****
and crap used to be an issue so was Bloody, and bleedin' Hell, and **** off.
Arsehole is another. Strange how bodily parts and functions and things
related to religion are often in the frame.
Its a real Bugger... grin.
Brian

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"S Viemeister" wrote in message
...
On 31/08/2020 21:37, Scott wrote:
On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:30:07 +0100, S Viemeister
On 31/08/2020 21:15, Scott wrote:
On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:04:20 +0100, S Viemeister
On 31/08/2020 20:35, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...
And news readers refer to nearly all events in the present tense.
And many people begin both questions and answers with 'so'.
And the younger generation try to get an expletive into every
sentence.
'An' expletive??? There are people who scatter them liberally through
every sentence. Not just youngsters, either.
Maybe I was underestimating the ingenuity of the younger generation.

I remember being told in my youth that the real skill was to fragment
polysyllabic words in order to insert a swear word (eg tele - f****g -
scope). He also said that the fine and noble English word c**t was
sadly becoming extinct and it was our moral duty to use the word where
possible to keep it alive. I think that problem has been resolved.

I had a sheltered childhood. I didn't learn those words until I met people
from Glasgow.

What was it derived from though? Often words do have an original form that
they started form.

I mean when did Television get coined and why did radio and Television often
get followed by the word Set, as its one item not a set of items, like a
canteen of Cutlery, after all??
The other thing that does confuse one is in tools. People say drill, when
they mean Drill bit etc, its a minefield. The English language is scattered
with bits of other languages and apparently made up stuff for no obvious
reason.
Don't get me started on plurals.
Brian

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"Custos Custodum" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:56:55 +0100, S Viemeister
wrote:

On 31/08/2020 21:37, Scott wrote:
On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:30:07 +0100, S Viemeister
On 31/08/2020 21:15, Scott wrote:
On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:04:20 +0100, S Viemeister
On 31/08/2020 20:35, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single
correct
verb in the plural form...
And news readers refer to nearly all events in the present tense.
And many people begin both questions and answers with 'so'.
And the younger generation try to get an expletive into every
sentence.
'An' expletive??? There are people who scatter them liberally through
every sentence. Not just youngsters, either.
Maybe I was underestimating the ingenuity of the younger generation.

I remember being told in my youth that the real skill was to fragment
polysyllabic words in order to insert a swear word (eg tele - f****g -
scope). He also said that the fine and noble English word c**t was
sadly becoming extinct and it was our moral duty to use the word where
possible to keep it alive. I think that problem has been resolved.

I had a sheltered childhood. I didn't learn those words until I met
people from Glasgow.

According to the OED, the earliest record of the word "****" was in
Scots. It's our gift to the world :-)

I have no issue with so, but using it or any other oft used syntax can be
very irritating.
I remember at a Janice Ian Concert back in the 90s, after a song she said,
so there were were at Marks and Spencers, and proceeded to describe a sales
pith about using her music in their campaigns, but failed because so much
of the current album was about sex.
Rather amusing, but if every break fo chat had started the same way, it
could have become annoying.
Brian

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"Pamela" wrote in message
...
On 21:04 31 Aug 2020, S Viemeister said:
On 31/08/2020 20:35, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

And news readers refer to nearly all events in the present tense.

And many people begin both questions and answers with 'so'.

"So" is annoying. Presumably starting a sentence with "so" is seen as
some clever broadcasting segue but to me it is grating.

Has there been some self-help guide or communication guru who started the
current craze?






--
xpost: alt.usage.english

I think one of the issues as I said in another similar thread that we
inherit words from other languages.
I mean you don't say Sheeps nor fungusses do you?
However where did pair or scissors come from?, there are lots of those,
and not just pliers, cutters etc, but also clothing like trousers, when
clearly they are just one item.
Brian

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"Roger Hayter" wrote in message
...
On 31 Aug 2020 at 22:30:39 BST, "Custos Custodum" wrote:

On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 20:35:49 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

Do you have specific examples you'd like to share? English verbs lost
their plural inflections around 900 years ago when Old English evolved
into Middle English. You might want to check out "dangling
participles" while you're at it.

I assumed he must have been thinking of tenses; but confused.

--
Roger Hayter

Yes, eats shoots and leaves.

Sorry my apostrophe key is bust.


I do agree about tense, since I used to have to sub edit peoples reviews of
games etc, and they would often be in the now at one point and the past
somewhere else.

Also muddled writing where a part of the game that belongs in an earlier
part of the review was suddenly introduced and you then had to make space
for it in the correct place.
However, the only reason for doing that was clarity, not any adherence to
correctness by the rules of English.
Brian

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"Robin" wrote in message
...
On 31/08/2020 22:41, Roger Hayter wrote:
On 31 Aug 2020 at 22:30:39 BST, "Custos Custodum" wrote:

On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 20:35:49 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

Do you have specific examples you'd like to share? English verbs lost
their plural inflections around 900 years ago when Old English evolved
into Middle English. You might want to check out "dangling
participles" while you're at it.

I assumed he must have been thinking of tenses; but confused.


There is so many clever posters here. They always catches people out on
such points.

--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid

Now we are getting on to dialects, a whole new subject. There has been a
push in recent years for people on the media to have regional accents. The
problem I find for example is that a broadcaster with a really broad Glasgow
or Belfast accent is incomprehensible to a southerner like myself.
I suspect the reverse may be true but cannot prove it.
Brian

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"jon" wrote in message ...
On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 20:35:49 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

Newscasters have trouble with 'H' saying 'istory, 'istoric etc. I know
the French can't pronounce it.

On 01/09/2020 05:46, jon wrote:
On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 20:35:49 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

Newscasters have trouble with 'H' saying 'istory, 'istoric etc. I know
the French can't pronounce it.

English people also seem to have difficulty pronouncing the "w" in
"whales"
(I'm Scottish).

On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 22:13:32 +0100, Pamela
wrote:

On 21:04 31 Aug 2020, S Viemeister said:
On 31/08/2020 20:35, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

And news readers refer to nearly all events in the present tense.

And many people begin both questions and answers with 'so'.

"So" is annoying. Presumably starting a sentence with "so" is seen as
some clever broadcasting segue but to me it is grating.

Has there been some self-help guide or communication guru who started the
current craze?

I think it started in the US, but I could be wrong. Possibly as an
appalling example of "management newspeak" to which many people
subscribe. One person uses it, another hears it, and it spreads like a
rash. Other examples are "going forward", "deep diving", and the
perennial "blue sky thinking".

I refused to use these nonsensical expressions at work, (I am now
retired) and had little time for those who did. This did my promotion
chances no good. But when I saw that many of those above me had little
idea of singular and plural, the correct use of tenses, the use of
aspostrophes, the difference between their, there, and they're, and
even to, too, and two, I had no desire to be among them.

"alan_m" wrote in message
...
On 31/08/2020 21:15, Scott wrote:
On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:04:20 +0100, S Viemeister
wrote:

On 31/08/2020 20:35, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

And news readers refer to nearly all events in the present tense.

And many people begin both questions and answers with 'so'.

And the younger generation try to get an expletive into every
sentence.


The ****ing ****er's ****ed!

The Irish are legendary swearers. I was once working in Dublin on business,
and a computer was playing up. The Irish guy I was with yelled "Ah feck it!
The fecking feckers' fecking fecked!" which I think uses "feck" (the Irish
form of "****") as almost every grammatical part of speech: interjection,
adjective, noun, adverb, verb (as a participle).

On Monday, 31 August 2020 21:30:09 UTC+1, S Viemeister wrote:
'An' expletive??? There are people who scatter them liberally through
every sentence. Not just youngsters, either.

As Frankie Boyle noted, it's a grammatical ****ing indicator that there's a ****ing noun coming up, a bit like how ****ing Germans always put the ****ing verb at the ****ing end of a ****ing sentence.

Owain

"Brian Gaff (Sofa)" wrote in message
...
I looked them up at school. They seemed to be pretty much tame, and the
way they are used now is weird. Who decided they were any worse than
copulate and vagina?
I suspect it was meaning drift which has happened to many words over the
years.
Gay has been changed of course, but is not considered derogatory like the
others. I do notice that most of the really bad words are short. Even
**** and crap used to be an issue so was Bloody, and bleedin' Hell, and
**** off.
Arsehole is another. Strange how bodily parts and functions and things
related to religion are often in the frame.
Its a real Bugger... grin.

What has changed over the years is the swear words relating to religion. In
Victorian times, a lot of profane language was taking "the Lord's name in
vain" - all the now-ridiculed words like "zounds" (God's wounds). Nowadays
most swear words are related to parts of the body or actions that you
perform with them.

Apparently (I'm not sure where I read this) in some English-speaking African
countries, the medical terms like penis and vagina are strictly taboo and
not to be used in polite society, whereas the four-letter equivalents are
fine to use in front of the vicar or at a dinner party. Strange how they are
the complete opposite of us.

On 01/09/2020 09:25, NY wrote:

snip


The Irish are legendary swearers. I was once working in Dublin on
business, and a computer was playing up. The Irish guy I was with yelled
"Ah feck it! The fecking feckers' fecking fecked!" which I think uses
"feck" (the Irish form of "****") as almost every grammatical part of
speech: interjection, adjective, noun, adverb, verb (as a participle).

ISTM the gerund was forgotten in all that ****ing.

--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid

On Tuesday, September 1, 2020 at 7:32:05 AM UTC+1, Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:
When the US started to redesign English, you do the Math.
Brian

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"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
...
Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct verb
in the plural form...


--
"Nature does not give up the winter because people dislike the cold."

? Confucius

But ISTR if you tell a policeman to **** off he can do you for abusive/foul language.

And why is Brian Gaff on a sofa?

On Tuesday, 1 September 2020 07:57:00 UTC+1, Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:
I mean when did Television get coined and why did radio and Television often
get followed by the word Set, as its one item not a set of items, like a
canteen of Cutlery, after all??

An interesting idea.

Stackechange has discussed this and come up with two suggestions:

1. the word "television", by itself, referred to the medium, not the box, so "television set" was used to refer to the box.

2. A TV is actually composed of many components with specific functions: a radio receiver, a tuning control, a pre-amplifier, an amplifier, a video processing unit, a display screen. ... So the term "TV set" refers to all those components, housed in a single cabinet.

https://english.stackexchange.com/qu...v-and-a-tv-set

Noted in stackexchange, but I think the main reason, is the term is carried over from radio sets, when in the early days the radio, loudspeaker, HT battery and LT accumulator were in separate boxes, before being brought together in one box.

As an aside, on a Sarah Beeny tart-up-your-house repeat the other night, a young couple mentioned they had upgraded their "sideboard" to be a bluetooth speaker. Thee and me would know it as a "radiogram".

Owain

On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:56:55 +0100, S Viemeister
wrote:

On 31/08/2020 21:37, Scott wrote:
On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:30:07 +0100, S Viemeister
On 31/08/2020 21:15, Scott wrote:
On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:04:20 +0100, S Viemeister
On 31/08/2020 20:35, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...
And news readers refer to nearly all events in the present tense.
And many people begin both questions and answers with 'so'.
And the younger generation try to get an expletive into every
sentence.
'An' expletive??? There are people who scatter them liberally through
every sentence. Not just youngsters, either.
Maybe I was underestimating the ingenuity of the younger generation.

I remember being told in my youth that the real skill was to fragment
polysyllabic words in order to insert a swear word (eg tele - f****g -
scope). He also said that the fine and noble English word c**t was
sadly becoming extinct and it was our moral duty to use the word where
possible to keep it alive. I think that problem has been resolved.

I had a sheltered childhood. I didn't learn those words until I met
people from Glasgow.

My mentor came from Greenock, which is even better :-)

Great character. He was a minister. He said that because his
parishioners were to be found in the pub on a Saturday night it was
his moral and spiritual duty as the parish minister to be there too..

"John Armstrong" wrote in message
...
Has there been some self-help guide or communication guru who started the
current craze?

I think it started in the US, but I could be wrong. Possibly as an
appalling example of "management newspeak" to which many people
subscribe. One person uses it, another hears it, and it spreads like a
rash. Other examples are "going forward", "deep diving", and the
perennial "blue sky thinking".

I refused to use these nonsensical expressions at work, (I am now
retired) and had little time for those who did. This did my promotion
chances no good. But when I saw that many of those above me had little
idea of singular and plural, the correct use of tenses, the use of
aspostrophes, the difference between their, there, and they're, and
even to, too, and two, I had no desire to be among them.

I was the same: I never let "blue-sky thinking", "thinking outside the box"
etc pass my lips. The worst is "leveraging" - always pronounced
"levveraging" (American) rather than "leeveraging" (British) even by Brits.
I still have not idea WTF it means.

Then you get all the financial jargon that creeps into management briefings.
I worked for a company that had "merged with" (management-speak for "been
taken over by") a Finnish company. At an annual briefing, in the local ice
rink (I kid you not), a Finnish manager stood up and spoke in a very strong
guttural Finnish accent - there were random phrases like "rat-ex" and
"op-ex" (I think they are short for "rationalised expenditure" and
"operating expenditure"), and he ended up getting all of use to chant a
phrase. We had no idea whatsoever he was saying, but we faithfully repeated
his guttural sounds. I think it was something like "go do" (as in "now make
it happen - do as I tell you to") but to be honest it could have been a
war-chant - after all, he did tell us to go out and kill the customers (I
think he meant "kill" (do better than) our *competitors*).

As a communication exercise, it was a complete waste of an otherwise
productive day. It would have been so much better if the British heads of
department (people who we actually *knew* and *trusted*) had given the
briefing at a local departmental level, with their added emphasis and
scepticism, and saying how it was relevant to *us*.

I got quite good at understanding Finnish-accented English, but it is a lot
harder than (for example) French-, German- or Spanish-accented English
because they don't pronounce the same word in the same way in successive
sentences so you can't just make up a mental conversion table of vowel
sounds. OK, their English was *considerably* better than my Finnish (which
is non-existent) but if the accent is so strong that you struggle to catch
the odd word (and some the phrases and sentiments were *very* odd - like
"kill the customers") then maybe they are not the right person to be giving
the briefing to English people. I didn't ask them to take us over!

On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:46:40 +0100, alan_m
wrote:

On 31/08/2020 21:15, Scott wrote:
On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 21:04:20 +0100, S Viemeister
wrote:

On 31/08/2020 20:35, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

And news readers refer to nearly all events in the present tense.

And many people begin both questions and answers with 'so'.

And the younger generation try to get an expletive into every
sentence.


The ****ing ****er's ****ed!

I heard two young women on a station platform in south London when one
remarked to the other that something or somebody was '****ing a bit
****ish'.

On 31/08/2020 22:30, Custos Custodum wrote:
On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 20:35:49 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

Do you have specific examples you'd like to share? English verbs lost
their plural inflections around 900 years ago when Old English evolved
into Middle English. You might want to check out "dangling
participles" while you're at it.

I dunno, people is just doing it, that is all I know


--
€œwhen things get difficult you just have to lie€�

€• Jean Claud Jüncker

On 31/08/2020 22:41, Roger Hayter wrote:
On 31 Aug 2020 at 22:30:39 BST, "Custos Custodum" wrote:

On Mon, 31 Aug 2020 20:35:49 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

Listening to the radio and the TV there has not been a single correct
verb in the plural form...

Do you have specific examples you'd like to share? English verbs lost
their plural inflections around 900 years ago when Old English evolved
into Middle English. You might want to check out "dangling
participles" while you're at it.

I assumed he must have been thinking of tenses; but confused.

No. I are not.


--
€œwhen things get difficult you just have to lie€�

€• Jean Claud Jüncker

On 01/09/2020 07:37, Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:
That is just like the use of um though.The expletive has lost its shock
power, and the other wone that starts with C does not lend itself to use in
that way. The F word I find amusing as it would seem if taken literally, the
inanimate objects often are copulating most of the time.
Brian


Who put the C word in S****horpe?

--
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