Bad English.

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Stephenite

Membå
Location
OslO
One should not assume as it makes an ass of u and me.

The solution is for someone to phone about the "puppys"... and offer them a pony! :tongue:
 
U

User482

Guest
I explained to some Italian friends that we say "Paninis" (plural), whereas "panini" in Italian is the plural of "panino" (singular). They thought it was odd, but we ordered some anyway
smile.gif

Yet we pluralize espresso to espressos, not espressis!
 

Fnaar

Smutmaster General
Location
Thumberland
Yet we pluralize espresso to espressos, not espressis!

Presumably 'we' think it's called a panini/espresso (correctly for the latter, of course, unless it gets called an 'expresso') and pluralise appropriately according to Eng spelling rules. I (genuinely) love the way that English lang AND cuisine take things from around the world and simply say "right. that's ours now, we'll call it the same, but do it in our own style"
 

swee'pea99

Squire
It's also quite interesting how 'we' vary in what we do. Like the way Jeremy Paxman always refers to Don Jewen and Don Kwiksote, or an old school professor used to refer to the treaty of ver-sayles. Apparently also, I read recently somewhere, all the menial people at the court used to refer to it as Marry-le-bone, while the judges and posher barristers always called it Marley-bone.
 

Stephenite

Membå
Location
OslO
I get irritated when people say "The proof is in the pudding".

Surely, the expression should be "The proof of the pudding is in the tasting". Can anyone back me up on this?
 

Stephenite

Membå
Location
OslO
Thankyou very much for that Norm.
 

Stephenite

Membå
Location
OslO
Mixing "tasting" and "eating" is ok, as they both amount to the same thing. The contraction is meaningless, and sounds a bit empty-headed IMO.
 

slowmotion

Quite dreadful
Location
lost somewhere
[quote name='swee'pea99' timestamp='1310566794' post='1748898']
Like the way Jeremy Paxman always refers to Don Jewen and Don Kwiksote, or an old school professor used to refer to the treaty of ver-sayles. Apparently also, I read recently somewhere, all the menial people at the court used to refer to it as Marry-le-bone, while the judges and posher barristers always called it Marley-bone.
[/quote]


I think that Paxman may be trying to walk in the steps of the great Kenneth Allsop who presented the current affairs programme, Tonight, in the sixties. Lots of frantic cigarette action in the studio....rather like dodgy French philosophers today, really. One night, Allsop was reading the news about a hurricane hitting a string of islands somewhere. He pronounced the word as...

arkky-pell-arrrgo.

I was really impressed.
 

Stephenite

Membå
Location
OslO
Going back to the example "disc" or "disk" if i may:

That has to be a good example of a word with a spelling in a state of flux.

First (AFAIK), it was spelt 'diskos' from the greek. Then 'discus' - latin. Anglo-saxon equivalent would have been 'disk'. After 1066AD, and the frenchifying, it became 'disc'. Now the power lies with the yanks and they simplify and spell it 'disk'.

'Strewth.

As a teenager in the '80s I tend to use 'disc' at all times other than when writing about a computer 'disk'. Even though it does look vulgar.

We are all a product of our times. Try telling Shakespeare it's no good being able to spell your name seventy different ways, because you will only get one out of seventy emails.

- 'Godsbodkins. Am I bovvered?!'
 

benb

Evidence based cyclist
Location
Epsom
IMO it should be disc for all purposes except computer disks.

Going back to the example "disc" or "disk" if i may:

That has to be a good example of a word with a spelling in a state of flux.

First (AFAIK), it was spelt 'diskos' from the greek. Then 'discus' - latin. Anglo-saxon equivalent would have been 'disk'. After 1066AD, and the frenchifying, it became 'disc'. Now the power lies with the yanks and they simplify and spell it 'disk'.

'Strewth.

As a teenager in the '80s I tend to use 'disc' at all times other than when writing about a computer 'disk'. Even though it does look vulgar.

We are all a product of our times. Try telling Shakespeare it's no good being able to spell your name seventy different ways, because you will only get one out of seventy emails.

- 'Godsbodkins. Am I bovvered?!'
 
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