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My daughter showed me a post a friend had put up. It was a structure in a garden.


The picture was entitled "This is the awning of the cage of asparagus"...

ChrisE, wonderful - I really liked that!

PS Am I right that you're not a fan of the misuse of 'epicentre'? If so, you'll have had a lot to cope with in the past week ro so!

Yes, I've been grinding my teeth at all of the "epicentres". Why do people use it? Is "centre" just not long enough?

Chrise

I love the `Asparagus` quote from your daughter.

I`m trying to come up with a devastating idea for `Clueless` without referring to epicentre!

I hate to mention the C-word when it is everywhere else and this website is a refuge from it, but this got me thinking.

A newspaper website headline said that "Thousands of people flaunted coronavirus distancing rules".

Unless they're showing off how virtuous they are, I think the word intended is "flouted". Someone called this a grammatical error, and what I'm really think about is whether using a wrong word which is similar to the intended one a matter of grammar. A malapropism perhaps?

Orson, I'm pretty stern - I'd call it a mistake, error, wrong word!

You can be pretty stern when you want to be can't you, malone.

Now I wonder whether malapropism should have a capital M, after Mrs Malaprop. No capitals for turkey or brussels sprouts but nevertheless for Yorkshire pudding and French fries. (It's safer to stick to asparagus.)

Orson, you've probably only seen my gentler side - so how stern I can be is … maybe worrying!

I'd keep malapropism with a lower case 'm' - but only because my Chambers does!

I never like seeing Spring, Summer etc having capitals, those just never look right to me. I was relieved to say that Chambers says only 'often with a capital...' That means it's safe for me to stick with lower case.

Orson & Malone

My stepfather is a nasty piece of work who nobody likes. He is always getting things wrong, one of his classic statements was ... `I feel like a bit of a piranha`.

Tyke, that too was a good one - I hope everyone him around kept their faces straight when he said it!