The Grammar Thread

[D_W]

https://www.amazon.com/DIYAREA-Comm...NJQBY&qid=1641510175&s=merchant-items&sr=1-97
Not sure if you can see american amazon entries, but this seller is likely someone branding from overseas and selling as "DIY Area".

When they expand to commercial food prep with their name, it appears that they could also benefit from hyphens, etc.

 

[Cabinetman]

Indeed it is, from Hamlet, something like "tis sport to have the enginer hoist with his own petard".

And just in case anybody doesn’t know. I’m (fairly sure) it means to be blown up by your own pipe bomb. They were laid against doorways quite often. Ian

 

[Cozzer]

Hanged or hung.

Personally, I'm incredibly well hung.

 

[Droogs]

Grammar in my house is a nightmare. SWMBO is a fully accredited CIEP proofreader and editor and English teacher, me, I just think that I'm a pedant, she normally points out I'm just a peasant cow-orker

 

[glenfield2]

The Holland and Anderson sign was finished, but Mr Holland asked for changes to the spacing between Holl and and and and and and and and and and and and derson.

My old dad used to tell me that one when I was a kid 60 years ago (except it was ‘Welland and Anderson’). I regularly amused(?) my kids with it in turn.

 

[stuart little]

Yebbut not difficult to work out what coworker means; after all how many cow-orkers do you bump into on a daily basis?

Not many! What caused my initial 'wonder' was that when reading it, 'cow-' was the last word on a line, & 'orker' started the next!

 

[stuart little]

https://www.amazon.com/DIYAREA-Comm...NJQBY&qid=1641510175&s=merchant-items&sr=1-97
Not sure if you can see american amazon entries, but this seller is likely someone branding from overseas and selling as "DIY Area".

When they expand to commercial food prep with their name, it appears that they could also benefit from hyphens, etc.

Hyp-hens?????

 

[paulrbarnard]

Hanged or hung.

Personally, I'm incredibly well hung.

Undoubtedly better than being well hanged.

 

[jcassidy]

And just in case anybody doesn’t know. I’m (fairly sure) it means to be blown up by your own pipe bomb. They were laid against doorways quite often. Ian

Yes indeed, 16th century fuse cords were fairly unreliable and a grenadier was quite likely to be blown up by their own device 'petard', I assume much to the amusement of the defending forces.

 

[woodhutt]

That that is, is.
That that is not, is not.
Is that it?
It is!

 

[Sporky McGuffin]

God I am the last person to be criticising anyone for poor grammar or spelling but I do sometimes see posts where I really do have to work hard at trying to understand what the person is saying, and given that were trying to “communicate” surely thats a serious issue.

The odd slip doesn't bother me enormously - certainly not enough to correct someone unless they've somehow deserved it. As long as the meaning is clear everything is OK.

Also I know that I quite often have weird typos in my posts if I've used my tablet - it has rather over-enthusiastic afro courgette.

 

[accipiter]

West Country English - Wikipedia

As Lt-Col. J. A. Garton observed in 1971,[10] traditional Somerset English has a venerable and respectable origin, and is not a mere "debasement" of Standard English:

The dialect is not, as some people suppose, English spoken in a slovenly and ignorant way. It is the remains of a language—the court language of King Alfred. Many words, thought to be wrongly pronounced by the countryman, are actually correct, and it is the accepted pronunciation which is wrong. English pronounces W-A-R-M worm, and W-O-R-M wyrm; in the dialect W-A-R-M is pronounced as it is spelt, Anglo-Saxon W-E-A-R-M. The Anglo-Saxon for worm is W-Y-R-M. Polite English pronounces W-A-S-P wosp; the Anglo-Saxon word is W-O-P-S and a Somerset man still says WOPSE. The verb To Be is used in the old form, I be, Thee bist, He be, We be, Thee 'rt, They be. 'Had I known I wouldn't have gone', is 'If I'd a-know'd I 'ooden never a-went'; 'A' is the old way of denoting the past participle, and went is from the verb to wend (Anglo-Saxon wendan).

 

[Jacob]

West Country English - Wikipedia

As Lt-Col. J. A. Garton observed in 1971,[10] traditional Somerset English has a venerable and respectable origin, and is not a mere "debasement" of Standard English:

Standard English is an artificial construction to start with.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_English

 

[accipiter]

Standard English is an artificial construction to start with.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_English

No arguments from me...

 

[Cozzer]

Undoubtedly better than being well hanged.

Oh, it is!

When I was a youngster and in any bother at home, my mother's usual threat was "You'll end up at the end of a rope, you will...."!
Frankly, even at that age, I'd have preferred "Wait 'til your dad gets home", but there you go...

 

[accipiter]

Which I am, but it needs an Ohh to preface it then.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Ooh arr

 

[fixit45]

Here is one for you all. Why is it that when asked a question everyone now starts the reply with "So"

 

[paulrbarnard]

Here is one for you all. Why is it that when asked a question everyone now starts the reply with "So"

Unless it’s a politician then they always start with “look”. It just informs me that the politician is about to spout nonsenses.

The “So” is I think a result of the increase in words per minute used by younger people today. They tend to start talking before the previous person has finished the entire question. A drawn out “So” gives the answerer time to process the rest of the question while still appearing to be on the ball.

 

[Droogs]

That that is, is.
That that is not, is not.
Is that it?
It is!

It is not, that!

 

[nickds1]

Yes indeed, 16th century fuse cords were fairly unreliable and a grenadier was quite likely to be blown up by their own device 'petard', I assume much to the amusement of the defending forces.

The phrase "Hoist with his own petard" is from Hamlet, so yet another one down to Shakespeare.

Interestingly, whilst a "petard" means a small explosive device in several European languages (including English), the etymological roots are from the French "pétard " which translates as "to break wind" (i.e. f*rt). So really very appropriate.