Newbie

[doratheexplorer]

16 minutes ago, Tumshie said:

I know you were mostly sorta joking but for anybody who finds themselves in that position again and doesn't realise that when you are Reading a post that has a very long quote in it you can collapse the quote. 

 

To the very left of the black bar of the quote is a white circle with an arrow in it, just tap or click the circle and it will collapse the quote to just the size of the black bar. Handy to know if you are scrolling though a thread with lots of graphics. 

 

 

Ooh, that's clever!

[Athy]

On 03/01/2020 at 02:05, Ange said:

did I just admit to being an Essex girl? I normally try to keep that quiet ?

Why? I've been married to one (from 'arlow) for 32 years, and proud of it.

[Tumshie]

2 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

Ooh, that's clever!

Isn't it just, the forum software is full of useful little shortcuts; unfortunately sometimes you have to fall over them to find them. ?

[Athy]

On 04/01/2020 at 12:51, Vanessa1402 said:

 I do have some 50s circle frocks that demand foofs to make them work. 
 

 

To revive a word which my late mother-in-law used, whatties?

[Lysander]

4 hours ago, doratheexplorer said:

  The most common sort you see (in my opinion) is this:  A retired couple in their late 60s to early 70s.  The don't live on the boat but go to it regularly, either to fettle about with it on its mooring, or to actually cruise on it.  He looks similar to Harold Shipman and she looks like a cheerful but slightly long suffering sort and has 'practical' hair.  They also like steam trains and folk music.

 

Have we met?

[doratheexplorer]

7 minutes ago, Lysander said:

Have we met?

Maybe?

11 minutes ago, Athy said:

To revive a word which my late mother-in-law used, whatties?

I have a definition for 'foof' but I hope that's not what Vanessa meant.

[Athy]

On 04/01/2020 at 22:14, Alan de Enfield said:

 

 

I do find all these assumptions that everyone is au fait with all these abbreviations, and then say 'you know exactly what it means' is more than a little rude.

Do you feel the same about the use of foreign expressions?

[doratheexplorer]

1 minute ago, Athy said:

Do you feel the same about the use of foreign expressions?

and wandering apostrophes.

[Alan de Enfield]

2 minutes ago, Athy said:

Do you feel the same about the use of foreign expressions?

No, the use of another language is no problem.

It is the 'bastardisation' and laziness of some that use the English language that grates.

[tree monkey]

27 minutes ago, doratheexplorer said:

 

I have a definition for 'foof' but I hope that's not what Vanessa meant.

I wonder if my definition is the same as yours, an ex girlfriend introduced me to hers...

[Laurie Booth]

20 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

No, the use of another language is no problem.

It is the 'bastardisation' and laziness of some that use the English language that grates.

Like saying "Factories" instead of "Manufactories" 

[Tumshie]

8 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

No, the use of another language is no problem.

It is the 'bastardisation' and laziness of some that use the English language that grates.

Well such as life really - language evolves continuously, whether we like it of not. I don't much like americanisms but as the internet has become an integral part of our lives so americanisms have spread, me acting like a big baby every time someone who's not American says gotten is hardly going to make much difference. 

 

If I put TBH and TBF into the forum search tool it brings up 115 pages of posts contains just those two "bastardisations", so considering just how often forum members abbreviate sentences with "internet slang" and you've never batted an eye at it before it seems very strange that you are putting so much effort in to being outraged by it now. 

 

[WotEver]

1 hour ago, Tumshie said:

language evolves continuously, whether we like it of not.

I sincerely hope that ‘I could of done that’ is merely a passing phase and not a sign of evolution. 
 

Bought and Brought also seem to be commonly swapped. I actually heard a BBC presenter state that he “... bought it to the site. He’d brought it the day before at a bargain price.”

[Alan de Enfield]

6 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Bought and Brought also seem to be commonly swapped. I actually heard a BBC presenter state that he “... bought it to the site. He’d brought it the day before at a bargain price.”

That is just a sign of a poor education - others often incorrectly used are affect / effect & inquiry / enquiry.

[Tumshie]

1 minute ago, WotEver said:

I sincerely hope that ‘I could of done that’ is merely a passing phase and not a sign of evolution. 

I don't think they are, I hear that kind of syntax quite regularly when listening to different podcasters, another that I come across is different from, different than, different to; different than seems quite common place on American television so if writers are using it it's unlikely to go anywhere. Irrigardless and 'I could care less' are also becoming more prominent but it doesn't matter how often you explain them it makes little difference. 

 

But that was hardly the point I was making. 

 

1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:

That is just a sign of a poor education - others often incorrectly used are affect / effect & inquiry / enquiry.

The woman that you were trying to humiliate is a librarian so hardly lacking in an education. 

[WotEver]

Oh... and “six times less”. That doesn’t even make sense. 

7 minutes ago, Tumshie said:

I could care less' are also becoming more prominent but it doesn't matter how often you explain them it makes little difference.

If I ever come across that in a post I invariably ask the poster exactly how much less he could care. That puzzles them. 
 

Edited January 6, 2020 by WotEver
Grammar! Shock, horror!

[MtB]

1 minute ago, WotEver said:

Oh... and “six times less”. That doesn’t even make sense. 

 

And seems even worse when someone does it with big numbers.

 

I heard a BBC presenter the other day say something like "X is a thousand times less polluting than Y" .... 

 

The one that grates with me (other than people confusing effect with affect) is 'disinterested'. People nowadays use it to mean uninterested, while it actually means something completely different than that. 

 

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

26 minutes ago, Tumshie said:

The woman that you were trying to humiliate is a librarian so hardly lacking in an education. 

I was not even aware that the 'woman' had used such words. I no longer get to read anything she posts.

I was making the point that the words are often incorrectly used in general conversation.

[David Mack]

16 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

The one that grates with me (other than people confusing effect with affect) is 'disinterested'. People nowadays use it to mean uninterested, while it actually means something completely different than that. 

 

 

 

 

... enormity ...

[Tumshie]

2 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I was not even aware that the 'woman' had used such words. I no longer get to read anything she posts.

I was making the point that the words are often incorrectly used in general conversation.

You are never not aware, Alan. 

 

[Athy]

44 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

That is just a sign of a poor education - others often incorrectly used are affect / effect & inquiry / enquiry.

I hope that it is not a sign of poor education to think that enquiry and inquiry are synonyms, as I do.

[WotEver]

11 minutes ago, Athy said:

I hope that it is not a sign of poor education to think that enquiry and inquiry are synonyms, as I do.

Indeed, but according to Mr Google that is changing...

 

There Is a Distinction Developing in the UK

In the UK, a distinction between enquiry and inquiry is developing. The word inquiry is being used in relation to a formal inquest (i.e., an investigation), while enquiry is being used to denote the act of questioning. However, there is still considerable leniency on this distinction.

 

Examples with Inquiry and Enquiry

The examples below align with the convention developing in the UK:

• I would like to enquire about the toilet facilities in the hotel.  
• (Here, to enquire means to ask.)
  
  
   
• The judge has suspended the inquiry into the police shooting of the escaped mental patient.  
• (Here, inquiry means inquest or investigation.)

 

 

Edited January 6, 2020 by WotEver
Added a bit

[Alan de Enfield]

8 minutes ago, Athy said:

I hope that it is not a sign of poor education to think that enquiry and inquiry are synonyms, as I do.

I refer my learned friend to the improving written communications website :

 

Is it enquiry or inquiry?

There is always the difficulty of recognising American English spellings and British English spellings with words like these.

Whether we like it or not, much of our language is now heavily influenced by American English spellings.

British English uses both ‘enquiry’ and ‘inquiry’, but not in the same way as American English, which favours the ‘i’ spelling.

Enquiry

‘To enquire’ means to request information/look into. From this comes the noun ‘the/an enquiry’.

Examples:

• We ought to make some enquiries about getting our work vetted by Future Perfect.
• They enquired about the football match.
• She enquired about his health.
• We received an enquiry for a price of …….

Inquiry

This is favoured in British English only when talking of investigations.

Example:

• There will be an inquiry into this riot.
• There will be an inquiry into his death.

[Athy]

What WO and ADE have said has an element of truth, in that the usage of the words can be different, but they are essentially synonyms.

[Alan de Enfield]

4 minutes ago, Athy said:

What WO and ADE have said has an element of truth, in that the usage of the words can be different, but they are essentially synonyms.

But you do not have an enquiry into the death of someone, & I do not receive an inquiry when someone asks me for a quotation.

 

Can they be synonyms only in certain circumstances ?

 

Whilst not always true, (it is what my English teacher used as an aide memoir) an enquiry is normally prior to the event, and an inquiry is post event.

Edited January 6, 2020 by Alan de Enfield