Pedants United
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Re: Pedants United
"it would be ridiculous if we copied the French and said Paree for Paris."
Yes, I think you save that for when you're speaking French or if you're in France. If you happen to be in Poland and order a "zywiec" beer, it's best to pronounce it (approximately) "zuvvietts", but back here, it causes confusion. "That's zweek, mate."
Yes, I think you save that for when you're speaking French or if you're in France. If you happen to be in Poland and order a "zywiec" beer, it's best to pronounce it (approximately) "zuvvietts", but back here, it causes confusion. "That's zweek, mate."
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Re: Pedants United
Hm. Probably best if you just point to it.Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑Sun Apr 25, 2021 6:13 pmIf you happen to be in Poland and order a "zywiec" beer, it's best to pronounce it (approximately) "zuvvietts"...
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Re: Pedants United
I don't know also, I just remember the ad linked below.Paul Habershon wrote: ↑Sun Apr 25, 2021 4:54 pmIf the issue is the last two words, I wouldn't elide 'ought' and 'to'.MJMcCready wrote: ↑Sat Apr 24, 2021 12:24 am
Paul, how would you pronounce, "The water in Majorca don't taste quite like it ought to"?
However, I may well go wrong with 'Majorca'? J sound or Y sound? I think I usually go Y, but I don't know what's pedantically correct. I suppose the Spanish go Y, but it would be ridiculous if we copied the French and said Paree for Paris.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKRuG4oIu_o
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Re: Pedants United
Shouldn't it be two metres/meters rule rather then two metre/meter, since it is a regular plural?Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑Sun Apr 25, 2021 10:59 am"I would prefer a factual 'one meter rule, two meter rule ' etc."
or even "metre", but I agree your main point.
"Social distancing" is a continuation of the fad for using words and phrases wrongly, like "homophobia", which means "fear of the same", using "bad" to mean "good", and "wicked" to mean "very good". Employers say, "We value our staff" meaning "We will rob them blind, and hope they die of exhaustion, as we are too lazy to murder them, whoever they are."
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Re: Pedants United
Some comments on recent posts (no particular order).
A lot of misplaced stresses (e.g. REsearch) and mispronunciations (e.g. PROH-ject) are probably down to our American cousins, and a desire to be seen (heard?) keeping up with them, or with the trend in general.
Some of course are sheer ignorance or failure to take necessary pains. A short-lived revival of Mastermind in NZ a few years ago featured questions on some area of organic chemistry, one of which referred to covalent bonds - read by the question-master as "COVVuhlent".
Militate vs mitigate: this sort of thing is my main bugbear lately. Grab a word that sounds vaguely similar to the correct one and shove it in, saying all the while "well, you know what I really mean" or "near enough's good enough".
For my money, the correct spelling is Mallorca, with the double l pronounced "y" (as in, for example, caballero). Majorca is an unnecessary Anglicisation which in Spanish would sound something like MaHORca.
Unattached participle alert! (Whatever "this" was, it isn't the one being pedantic.)Nick Ivell wrote: ↑Sun Apr 25, 2021 9:29 amBut being pedantic, perhaps this belongs in a COVID thread.
A lot of misplaced stresses (e.g. REsearch) and mispronunciations (e.g. PROH-ject) are probably down to our American cousins, and a desire to be seen (heard?) keeping up with them, or with the trend in general.
Some of course are sheer ignorance or failure to take necessary pains. A short-lived revival of Mastermind in NZ a few years ago featured questions on some area of organic chemistry, one of which referred to covalent bonds - read by the question-master as "COVVuhlent".
Militate vs mitigate: this sort of thing is my main bugbear lately. Grab a word that sounds vaguely similar to the correct one and shove it in, saying all the while "well, you know what I really mean" or "near enough's good enough".
For my money, the correct spelling is Mallorca, with the double l pronounced "y" (as in, for example, caballero). Majorca is an unnecessary Anglicisation which in Spanish would sound something like MaHORca.
"The chess-board is the world ..... the player on the other side is hidden from us ..... he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance."
(He doesn't let you resign and start again, either.)
(He doesn't let you resign and start again, either.)
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Re: Pedants United
"covalent bonds - read by the question-master as "COVVuhlent"."
Good grief - of course it helps if you know the meaning or origin of the word. Chemistry is full of this, especially due to its use of German-style portmanteau words, like "ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid", pronounced "ethylene-DI-amine-tetra-aceetic acid", with possibly sneaky elision of the double "a". Non-chemists could struggle though.
Another one is a pesticide, "dieldrin", which even some chemists pronounce "Di-eldrin", (thinking it's two eldrins stuck together), and not realizing it's named after the German chemist, Dr Diels, so it should be "Deel-drin".
Good grief - of course it helps if you know the meaning or origin of the word. Chemistry is full of this, especially due to its use of German-style portmanteau words, like "ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid", pronounced "ethylene-DI-amine-tetra-aceetic acid", with possibly sneaky elision of the double "a". Non-chemists could struggle though.
Another one is a pesticide, "dieldrin", which even some chemists pronounce "Di-eldrin", (thinking it's two eldrins stuck together), and not realizing it's named after the German chemist, Dr Diels, so it should be "Deel-drin".
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Re: Pedants United
Maybe. But one which annoys me is the famous football team being referred to as "Bayern Munich". It should be "Bayern München". If they want to anglicise it then fair enough, but why only do half the job? The completely anglicised version would be "Bavaria Munich".Paul Habershon wrote: ↑Sun Apr 25, 2021 4:54 pmit would be ridiculous if we copied the French and said Paree for Paris.
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Re: Pedants United
The first time I encountered EDTA was at 20, Gordon Street, WC1H OAJ when I used it for complexometric titrations : oh what fun!Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑Tue Apr 27, 2021 9:16 am"covalent bonds - read by the question-master as "COVVuhlent"."
Good grief - of course it helps if you know the meaning or origin of the word. Chemistry is full of this, especially due to its use of German-style portmanteau words, like "ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid", pronounced "ethylene-DI-amine-tetra-aceetic acid", with possibly sneaky elision of the double "a". Non-chemists could struggle though.
Second time was in the MOLS building in Falmer, East Sussex for more or less the same thing. Salad days!
Reading the meniscus level on a burette is an art lost on the youth of today...
British Chess News : britishchessnews.com
Twitter: @BritishChess
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Twitter: @BritishChess
Facebook: facebook.com/groups/britishchess
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Re: Pedants United
Like and agree with the four last posts.
Today's ITV quiz, 'The Chase', had an irritating mistake in a question caption.
'Which of these creatures practices haemotophagy?'
Practice - noun
Practise - verb
So we need 'practises'. Trivial maybe, but I would be sorry if the distinction disappeared.
The two words are in a group of pairs which should follow the same rule.
Licence/license, advice/advise, device/devise.
Those last two pairs are a useful aide-memoire because you can hear the distinction.
The answer, incidentally, was vampire bat.
Today's ITV quiz, 'The Chase', had an irritating mistake in a question caption.
'Which of these creatures practices haemotophagy?'
Practice - noun
Practise - verb
So we need 'practises'. Trivial maybe, but I would be sorry if the distinction disappeared.
The two words are in a group of pairs which should follow the same rule.
Licence/license, advice/advise, device/devise.
Those last two pairs are a useful aide-memoire because you can hear the distinction.
The answer, incidentally, was vampire bat.
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Re: Pedants United
Our American friends seem to use "practice" and "license" for both noun and verb, which is odd.
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Re: Pedants United
They also say eyeglasses for glasses. You would have thought they could just call them glasses, since its pretty obvious where they go.
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Re: Pedants United
Why's that, John? I know the old chemical balances went out once affordable electronic ones became widely available (thus depriving one of the joys of sliding those little bits of metal along the scale at the top, in order to get the exact measurement) . But burettes??John Upham wrote: ↑Tue Apr 27, 2021 5:26 pmReading the meniscus level on a burette is an art lost on the youth of today...
"The chess-board is the world ..... the player on the other side is hidden from us ..... he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance."
(He doesn't let you resign and start again, either.)
(He doesn't let you resign and start again, either.)
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Re: Pedants United
It's not a television program. It's a television programme. It has nothing to do with computing.Alistair Campbell (In another thread) wrote: ↑Fri Jun 25, 2021 1:55 pmI believe "Good Morning Britain" (which is some sort of television program) ...
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Re: Pedants United
Back to what started me on this thread.
BBC1 lunchtime news today at a Cotswold archaeological site rich in fossils.
Unsurprisingly the reporter said the fossils were laying in the mud.
Strengthening my belief that this usage is so prevalent nowadays that it will eventually be validated in dictionaries.
BBC1 lunchtime news today at a Cotswold archaeological site rich in fossils.
Unsurprisingly the reporter said the fossils were laying in the mud.
Strengthening my belief that this usage is so prevalent nowadays that it will eventually be validated in dictionaries.
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Re: Pedants United
I have previously written unsuccessfully to The Times about 'off his own back' (sic), so I enjoyed this letter from Saturday's edition:
Sir, Mrs Malaprop would be in her element had she been commentating on the Olympic Games this year. She would have had stiff opposition, however, to judge by the mangled idioms spoken by several of the commentators: 'Off his own back'; 'They are having a conflab'; 'Edging their bets' and that old chestnut 'In one fowl swoop'. The abundance of regional accents on radio and television is to be applauded but ignorance of the language is not.
Jane Edwards
Eldersfield, Worcs
Sir, Mrs Malaprop would be in her element had she been commentating on the Olympic Games this year. She would have had stiff opposition, however, to judge by the mangled idioms spoken by several of the commentators: 'Off his own back'; 'They are having a conflab'; 'Edging their bets' and that old chestnut 'In one fowl swoop'. The abundance of regional accents on radio and television is to be applauded but ignorance of the language is not.
Jane Edwards
Eldersfield, Worcs