Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

Steve, Brendan, Pedagogue … and anyone else I've overlooked.

Thanks for the interesting comments. It's always good to hear what other people think - and to find out what annoys them! I suppose we all have our own particular little bugbears - if we take on other people's, we'd hardly sleep at night.


I was out shopping earlier today and combined this with an apostrophe patrol. I was pleased to discover no striking absences and no glaring misuses.

Stevea & Jigjag , Yes I can imagine the Yorkshire pronunciation of poorhouse (poo-erhouse) could lead to confusion!

Hull is geographically remote - someone described it as not being at the end of the world but not being of it either. It`s an interesting City - the `Old Town` boasts a museum quarter with lovely pubs etc and marina close by. Many famous people are associated with Hull - Maureen Lipman being one of the best known actresses while poets include Philip Larkin, Stevie Smith and Andrew Motion.

Tyke

I have only been to Hull once - about 30 years ago. We had a very pleasant evening in the Hull Cheese pub. I was delighted when Hull was named capital of Culture as I did not know it had any!

Malone

Pleased to hear about your shopping trip and the lack of misplaced apostrophes. I take your point about shopping only at Waitrose but sadly there is no convenient one here. I will be buying my fruit and veg from Ivan on Saturday, and will ask about you friend Mr Aspberay. I will no doubt hear some grumbles and will gladly post them hear if you wish.

sorry - that should be "here"

Pedagogue

Yes that annoys me too. "Due to - caused by - owing to - because of" was drummed into us at primary school. One of many things we had to chant.

Jigjag and Pedagogue, I have to confess that I didn't know anything about the subtleties of 'due to' and 'owing to'. I've checked Chambers and it has confirmed that I am not alone. One definition of 'due to' is - 'owing to, because of (a use still deprecated by some, but now almost standard'. I think you're still able to tut at any instances of 'incorrect' usages, but in the interests of fairness, these will have to be silent tuts.

Malone
Yes, sometimes I feel like Canute as the waves surge forward, knowing that, in the end, our language is dynamic, ever changing.
Perhaps I should, as once said on BBC News, "re-look" at my position.

Pedagogue, I'm sorry that I can't put the whole weight of the PU behind your 'due to' grievance, but I trust I have been fairly even-handed. I admire your realistic attitude, acknowledging that our language is dynamic, ever changing. Great, innit?*

Pedagogue

I bet you are with me on this. Politicians say "I refute that" when they mean deny or reject. They do not, of course, give any evidence for their "refutation"

That one gets me too, jigjag.
Another one I wince at every week is when Jermey Paxman introduces University Challenge and says
"With an average age of 24, let's meet the team"