Funny Sayings

[agurney]

on a train..."the next station-stop will be..."

That sounds odd, but is actually OK - you might not stop at the next station, and the next stop might be in the middle of nowhere due to signallling.

Alisdair

 

[Scomber]

some people never fail to live down to my expectations

 

[emsworthy]

Mine is South West Train's regular (and usually a precursor to delays) automated announcement, "Could the guard please contact the driver?".

To which the reply could quite easily be, "Yes, he 'could', but will he?"

I'm not a great scholar of syntax but this one is pretty obvious surely?

 

[alan_d]

Mine is South West Train's regular (and usually a precursor to delays) automated announcement, "Could the guard please contact the driver?".

To which the reply could quite easily be, "Yes, he 'could', but will he?"

I'm not a great scholar of syntax but this one is pretty obvious surely?

It's not syntax, it's grammar. It is certainly common idiomatic usage (and therefore, some would say, correct) and is probably an example of the optative mood having been subsumed by the subjunctive. This is probably also the explanation for "We would like to welcome you on board" which annoyed Pugwash and Mash. If you really want to know more, look up subjunctive and optative in Wikipedia.

What really annoys me is the increasingly common use of "may" instead of "might" in counterfactual conditionals.

 

[Koeketiene]

"avoid unnecessary accidents" .. presumably the others are acceptable.

'Purpose built flats' as opposed to flats built by accident

 

[alan_d]

'Purpose built flats' as opposed to flats built by accident.

No. Purpose-built as opposed to houses or other properties being converted into flats. Perfectly reasonable usage IMO.

 

[VicS]

if you see 3 Crows in a field there Rooks

"If you see a crow in crowd it's a rook. If you see a rook on its own it's a crow" is a common expression for distinguishing between them ( but they look pretty different anyway)

A headline in our local paper some years ago read " Sheep attacks rocket"

 

[MASH]

Designer is a pointless description too.

And no, common usage does not make a like wrong right. innit.
"I would inform you that..." means something is preventing me from doing so but the sentence is not really complete without an explanation why, so it fails on two counts. It conveys a totally different meaning to the, one assumes, intended "I would like to inform you that..." And we all know what ASSUMe is said to stand for.
Common usage is also an excuse for apostrophising plurals, an error so basic and easily understood that it almost defies belief. Even more frustrating with those is that it is seldom consistant with only one of several plurals getting the treatment, or one particular plural out of several. Those that cry pedant become curiously silent over the importance of getting a decimal point in the right place, in a price or a tide calculation for instance. Would common (mis)usage make that "right" too, I wonder? Simple primary school grammar is not pedantry.

 

[alan_d]

"I would inform you that..." means something is preventing me from doing so but the sentence is not really complete without an explanation why, so it fails on two counts. It conveys a totally different meaning to the, one assumes, intended "I would like to inform you that..."

I am afraid you are not correct. The subjunctive ("would" instead of "will") is indeed used in conditional clauses as you describe, and in these cases it does call for the explanatory "but ... " or whatever. This is not the only use of the subjunctive, however, there are several others. In this particular example the subjunctive is being used not to indicate a conditional but rather to indicate a hope, wish or expectation, so you could rewrite it as " I wish to inform ...". Languages which have retained the optative mood would probably use that here.

Simple primary school grammar is not pedantry.

Agreed, but this is at least secondary school and possibly degree level grammar, and might with more justification be thought pedantic.

 

[rivonia]

Do you think I was born under a Gooseberry bush?/ when its gone its gone, more to follow.

Peter

 

[grafozz]

I am always intruiged as to how something can be "really " unique ? ?

 

[colingr]

We have a friend that uses literally like confetti.

As in "I was literally scared to death"
"We were literally frozen stiff"

 

[davidej]

One of my Welsh relatives is reputed to have called to her errant young son:

" come by here from over there

we don't want to take you home lost"

 

[Evadne]

" come by here from over there

we don't want to take you home lost"

That's not bad grammar, it's poetry.

 

[Leighb]

I am always intruiged as to how something can be "really " unique ? ?

Or my pet hate "almost" unique.

 

[pugwash60]

Architect designed - used as a selling point.
Could of.

 

[reginaldon]

The Grace 'For what we about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful.'

I generally say, ' Has He? - then thank Him then!'

 

[Whiskey Bravo]

I hardly dare write anything for fear of being criticised for my grammar/syntax etc., but a recent trend of 'young' people, when asking for items in shops, to use the expression ''Can I get ......'' drives me to distraction. It won't be long before I have to say ''No you can't get it, that's the shop assistants job!''

The other expression which I'm not too keen on comes from SWMBO and has several variations but all mean ''The boats tipped over too bl***y far, do something about it!!''

 

[reginaldon]

I'm continually being asked to bear (bare?) with people - why?

At times my imagination goes into overdrive; is it my mind?

 

[mainmarine]

I Myself personally,
Know what I mean,
nasty accident.
I was behind a chap in the queue in a local Halfords, his kids were running about, trying out the car seats, bikes etc. I remarked to him "you've got your hands full there" his reply "yea, know what I mean"