Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

Alanfi
The local usage is "I was sat sitting..."!

I'm watching Great British Menu. It always puzzles me that the chefs present three dishes. One of them is taken away for the judge to taste, leaving behind four for the other chefs and Andi to taste....

So the local usage makes it correct! Ridiculous. It is misuse of language

alanfi

Yes, generally northern. I have heard in Wigan, "I was sat seated, sitting watching television...."

Clearly nonsense.

Hylda Baker used to say "sat sitting" for comedic effect. She would also say "he's stood standing over there". Neither is correct English, just dialect.

Orson

Thanks. I never saw Hylda Baker, but have heard she was the best comedienne ever.

Grunger

Hylda was never the same after her hystericalectomy!

Tyke

Nice to hear from you. Have you watched any of the Tests in India? Have enjoyed it and nice to see good wickets.

Grunger
Luckily I signed up with TNT before they got the India Tests so am pleased they're showing them. The grounds over there look impressive!
I've got a day at Lord's in April and three trips to Scarborough booked - hope we have a good sunny summer ☀️

Elsewhere alanfi has objected to the phrase "top priority".

I disagree. It is possible to have a number of priorities and some will be more important than others, so they can be ranked with one of them being the top one.

It strikes me that there is a difference between pedantry and railing against the evolution of the language, with the objection to 'top priority' falling squarely into the latter category.

The OED confirms the transferred sense of 'priority', "an interest having a prior claim to consideration; often in pl. or preceded by a qualifying word, as first, high, top priority." Good enough for me.

If we were to reject every transferred sense in the language, 'palette' for 'selection of colours' and 'frosty' for 'lacking in warmth of feeling' would be just two entries on a very long list indeed.