Transitive/intransitive verbs

[Hugh Weldon]

Yes they do a similar thing with Warwick, making it sound something like 'walk'.

An interviewee on Newsnight last night came out with the rather extraordinary 'Well the white elephant in the room on this one is...' Not sure if that counts as a mixed metaphor or a malapropism. Perhaps both.

[Des]

I saw a Sikh gentleman this morning with a turbine on his head.

[David Flower]

the States and India, had difficulty in pronouncing "Norwich". Apparently American speakers would pronounce it as though it were the two words "nor" and "which" run together. I just thought you'd like to know...

since we're on Radio 4 I'd like to point out that the -wich suffix in town names denotes the early presence of salt mines

[jackdaw version]

I usually only hear rather than listen to business news but this morning on Radio 4 I found out that Norwich Union re-branded themselves as the insipid, meaningless Eviva partly because speakers in two of their main markets, the States and India, had difficulty in pronouncing "Norwich". Apparently American speakers would pronounce it as though it were the two words "nor" and "which" run together. I just thought you'd like to know...

Blame the Americans! Definitely!!! They've been butchering the language since Jamestown. Damn colonialists.

But can you say "Arkansas"?

[Des]

I'm very fond of Norwich but I can never quite think of it without remembering Alan Bennett's famous Beyond the Fringe sketch where he uses it as a coded message (via the telegram lady) to his girlfriend - '(k)Nickers Off Ready When I Come Home.

Here 'tis:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5MLkEmUO0k

[Rob Hall]

But can you say "Arkansas"?

Yes I can. Do I get a prize?

[jackdaw version]

Yes. First prize is a week in Arkansas. Second prize is two weeks in Arkansas. Which would you like? It'll ship to you as soon as you are ready to ship yourself.

[Rob Hall]

...It'll ship...

Cute.

[jackdaw version]

What really gets me with the contemporary abuse of language is the attitude of "It doesn't matter what the word really means, I'm using it to mean what I'm using it to mean and I don't care whether that's in the dictionary or not." My blood boils . . . or should it be, my blood is boiled?

[Philellinas]

Official confirmation that the barbarians have reached the gates of the BBC. On my digital radio the text message which accompanied the Radio 4 programme "Beyond Westminster" on Saturday read as follows:-
"Andrew Rawnsley looks at how the main UK parties are repositioning themselves in unchartered political waters".

Is nowhere safe? In desperation I'm going to listen to Simon Heffer at the Cheltenham Festival of Literature to see if there is a cure for this malaise.

[NormanD]

"Andrew Rawnsley looks at how the main UK parties are repositioning themselves in unchartered political waters".

Ironically correct, perhaps, in the sense of "waiting to be hired"?

[CantSleepClownsWillGetMe]

After I sent off for brochures from a few nursing homes, I got this one back which, believe it or not, had 34 mistakes in it! This is my favourite (from the Council and Health Board Funding section) ..

[NormanD]

Send it to "Private Eye", June. It's worth £10.

[Tom McPhillips]

The one that gets my current goat, and I used to think it was an error but it's becoming so prevalent that I believe it will become the norm, is "your" instead of "you're" - and "there" for "they're" isn't far behind. When I see it (constantly) in emails, I've stopped pointing it out - often the perpetrator doesn't even know it's a mistake and often doesn't even understand the correction... I've mostly absorbed and accommodated US spelling, but that's a bridge too far!

[Pete Fowler]

When I was a rather more important person, and had a PA, I used to, when interviewing, give a simple dictation test.

I can't remember it exactly but it was something like:

They’re going to their mother’s house over there. If you need accommodation, she’s in the business of letting rooms – it’s a separate concern. She’s the bees’ knees, that woman. Even sells fish and chips on the side – and, on its side, the company, that is, the woman’s got a humdinger of an operation…

It was better than that, after all I actually prepared it, and didn't simply throw it at the page. And as I look above, there's an ambivalence about bees and their knees...

The post modernists at the University would have a go at me and I suppose they had a point. But if a letter ever went out in my name with those mistakes, I'd hit the roof like a Gillett at the editing stage...