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chrise

10th May 2014, 09:08
One of my pet hate mistakes in usage:

It's bang in the middle of classic course, unfinished. (9)
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rosalind

10th May 2014, 09:25
Parse please!
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chrise

10th May 2014, 09:32
EPIC = classic, ENTRE(e) = course unfinished
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hywel

10th May 2014, 10:00
What is the mistake?
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chrise

10th May 2014, 10:18
The epicentre is NOT "bang in the middle". It's the point on the Earth's surface directly above the centre (focus) of the earthquake; hence it is, by definition, not at the centre.
Towards the end of last year I heard an announcer on Radio4 reporting an earthquake. She said "the epicentre..........." and I thought "at last, the chance to use the word correctly", then she continued "...was 5km below the surface".
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jazzgirl

10th May 2014, 10:19
epicentre (informal) the absolute centre of something ⇒ the epicentre of world sprinting

The parsing looks fine to me


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chrise

10th May 2014, 10:25
jazzy, it isn't!

The fact that a lot of people use the word incorrectly doesn't make the wrong usage "correct".

It's just a pretentious (and mistaken) attempt to sound highbrow anyway. There is a perfectly adequate word available ................er, "centre" perhaps?
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jazzgirl

10th May 2014, 10:26
ChrisE. it is shown as informal usage in three dictionaries
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chrise

10th May 2014, 10:33
It's still wrong!

Oh well, never mind.
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jazzgirl

10th May 2014, 10:38
I don't like it much either, Chris but this is how the use of words evolves over the years . Espresso was wrongly used so much (expresso) that Chambers now has it as an alternative. grrrr

Off to get the paper now. Stay cool :)




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