Didj'all see this article Anu linked to in AWADmail Issue 215?
web page It's pretty good. I love this:
The conflict arises because linguists champion scientific description of language while the grammar police want to save civilization from decline.
If they want to save civilization from decline they should be directing their attention to things that really matter; things like basketball. Harrumph!®
Some of that sounds familiar. It is all but too late to rescue English from the DOC but at least there is basketball, replete with role models.
I like eggcorns. My former boss had the bad habit of calling any topic he didn't wish to discuss a "mute point."
So there is at least one other individual who says that; incredible! Was thinking (or perhaps hoping) it was unique, from the same source that brought us "manneurism". [This term was defined by Aramis as 'a burst artery in one's personality'.]
Is that what
eggcorns are, or is that a model term?
>So there is at least one other individual who says that; incredible!
if you're referring to "mute point"s, I'm afraid they're all too often voiced.
Well,that sounds conveniently ambiguous.
Not an 'eggcorn', but here is a weatherman gem from this morning:
Quote:
"Once we get to our peak temperature of the day, we'll start to cool down."
Maybe that was from the textbook Meteorology Duhs. [Just wanted to share.]
Well since it was a real weather report, science fiction was not given consideration at the time. Some of those Jules Verne concepts did become reality after all.
Science fiction? Whurrat?
Just remembered, the same boss used to ask us to take an outline and "flush it out" into a report.
Ack. I read an online post the other day which, once again, wondered whether somebody was being a "pre Madonna". I deserve a present from Miss Manners for refraining from comment.
I want my present!
"pre Madonna". Is she related to Lake Juanita?
I want my present! Okay, here:
pre-Madonna
I had a military boss, an obnoxious AF major, who announced to us one day that he was at last going to get some "face time with the general" to discuss my project, but that it would not be necessary for me to go along to explain it since all I would have to do would be to give him some cryptic notes that he could look at if the general asked him a question.
Was he pissed when he discovered that I had given him two pages of encoded questions-answers. What probably pissed him off the most was that he didn't look at them before-hand. What was I trying to do, screw up his career? (actually, yes).
So I just handed him his email along with the dictionary open to the word cryptic and said, "Hell, I couldn't figure out why you wanted it this way, but you've told us for over a year now that you don't want us questioning your orders."
Old Ron retired as a major, and I like to think I helped.
