Masters of Time?

[johnalison]

And pubs advertising "good food". Would anyone say "rubbish food now being served"?

There is a pub that I sometimes pass which used to do exactly that. There was a board by the road. I don't remember the exact words but they promised something like lousy food, terrible beer and rude service. I hope they did a roaring trade.

 

[fredrussell]

Miserable bunch of sods aren’t you!

 

[MM5AHO]

This thread would fit well on the Facebook page called "The English Language Police". There are thousands of examples of mis-use of English there.

 

[ryanroberts]

Non monotonic time is a source of horrible world ending bugs in software so "this moment in time" and " moving forward in time" are both good things.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

I've recently had a couple of extended trips to Netherlands and have been apalled at the poor quality of spoken English.

But only after I have returned to UK.
Most of the Dutch people I met seemed to have had a good education and a good command of vocabulary and grammar.
Nartamean innit.

In James Joyce's time it was said that the best English was spoken in Dublin, now I fear that that accolade now belongs to places like Calcutta, or perhaps Lagos.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

One thing that really irritates me is to hear broadcast journalists etc., treating words describing corporate entities, such as" government" or "company"as plural nouns rather than singular ones. People who are old enough to have been taught proper grammar are now being infected by this annoying habit.
What's worse is that one can hear neophyte journalists using a plural verb as the predicate in a sentence where the subject is singular but where a plural noun is contained in a subordinate clause, e.g. "The man have bought a boat his parents formerly owned."

 

[Gwylan]

And another contender, usually in coffee shops, "can I get" with only a half question mark implied.

 

[Gwylan]

One thing that really irritates me is to hear broadcast journalists etc., treating words describing corporate entities, such as" government" or "company"as plural nouns rather than singular ones. People who are old enough to have been taught proper grammar are now being infected by this annoying habit.
What's worse is that one can hear neophyte journalists using a plural verb as the predicate in a sentence where the subject is singular but where a plural noun is contained in a subordinate clause, e.g. "The man have bought a boat his parents formerly owned."

Sort of, like lazy innit?

 

[Cantata]

- Something 'on the floor' when it's outdoors and is actually 'on the ground'.
- 'In the coming days and weeks'

 

[DJE]

Starting every sentence with "so".
Using "in terms of" at every turn.
And weather forecasters "the further north you are it will be windy".

 

[Dan Tribe]

Reminds me of a Giles cartoon. Grandma and Vera are going into an old fashioned hardware store. There's a shiny container labelled "Best Paraffin", and next to it a grotty old barrel labelled "Worst Paraffin"! Can't remember what the cartoon was about, but it's often the detail of Giles' cartoons that has stuck!

How old do you have to be to remember Giles? The annual was a feature of Christmas day during my childhood!

I recently came across the statue of Gandma Giles which I had forgotten about in Ipswich. That brought back happy memories.
Many of his cartoons were yachty based.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

I recently came across the statue of Gandma Giles which I had forgotten about in Ipswich. That brought back happy memories.
Many of his cartoons were yachty based.

Indeed - he drew the annual RNLI Christmas card.

 

[johnalison]

I recently came across the statue of Gandma Giles which I had forgotten about in Ipswich. That brought back happy memories.
Many of his cartoons were yachty based.

I was recently at the Maybush, Giles's pub. There used to be one of his cartoons on the wall but I forgot to look to see if it was still there. It was his yachting connections that made his association with the RNLI, who may still use his cartoons on christmas cards.