To boldly go.....

[Cali]

Peachtree Finance

[at9]

Not forgettng Raspberry Pi.

[Puffer]

9 hours ago, at9 said:

Other fruits are available.

How many fruity brands can you think of? Apricot used to be a maker of computers. Mango are a fashion company. Orange are (in the UK they were, don't know about elsewhere) a mobile phone company.

Long before Apple computers, the Beatles used Apple as a brand for their records.

I must remind you that, as an entity, 'Apricot', 'Mango' etc should be treated as a singular being, with verb to match.   So, 'Mango is a fashion company'.   Detention looms.

[meganiwish]

2 hours ago, Puffer said:

I must remind you that, as an entity, 'Apricot', 'Mango' etc should be treated as a singular being, with verb to match.   So, 'Mango is a fashion company'.   Detention looms.

I suspect that in usage the plural verb will win out.  It's similar to the way 'pease' (a non-count noun) gave way to 'pea' (count noun), though I accept that the [-s] ending played its part.  The fact is that speakers' feel for the language makes the singular verb sound strange.  What's more, we do better to regard a company as a number of people rather than an entity in itself.  So, while I enjoy pedantry, I'd say not at the expense of euphony, nor as an aid to those who'd like to hide from responsibility.  Thus, I'd say, eg, 'Snowberry IS one of the best performing companies . . .' but ''Snowberry ARE responsible for the death of the radio star.'  I always felt that video was innocent.  

[Puffer]

7 hours ago, meganiwish said:

I suspect that in usage the plural verb will win out.  It's similar to the way 'pease' (a non-count noun) gave way to 'pea' (count noun), though I accept that the [-s] ending played its part.  The fact is that speakers' feel for the language makes the singular verb sound strange.  What's more, we do better to regard a company as a number of people rather than an entity in itself.  So, while I enjoy pedantry, I'd say not at the expense of euphony, nor as an aid to those who'd like to hide from responsibility.  Thus, I'd say, eg, 'Snowberry IS one of the best performing companies . . .' but ''Snowberry ARE responsible for the death of the radio star.'  I always felt that video was innocent.  

I can't agree.   A company (or other entity) is a legal person in its own right and thus intentionally distinct from whoever are its members or other proprietors; that distinction is very important.   We have moved on very significantly since the original concept of a 'joint stock company' which was, in essence, regarded as a collection of individuals carrying on a common business.   So, 'the company is ...' is correct and logical, and (to my mind and ear at least), use of the plural is wrong and sounds so.   I cannot see any argument in favour of euphony.

And the same goes for committee, team etc unless (exceptionally) one is focussing on the individual members.   So, 'the committee has come to its [collective] decision', but ''the committee [members] have homes in Kent'.

[at9]

And now for something completely different.

I hate seeing monstrosities like: "She would of gone to the shops". It's a consequence of how you hear: "She would've gone to the shops" but that doesn't make it any less horrible. Unfortunately we may be fighting a losing battle against this one. Language changes through usage.

"For free" seems to have become established. "Free" would be entirely adequate. Alternatively "for nothing".

Compared to French, English, a language with a very rich vocabulary, actually lacks here. We use "free" in two senses: "beer" and "freedom". The French have "gratuit" and "libre" to make the distinction clear.           

"I'm free!" Or at least not too expensive.

[Shyheels]

Yes, you see a lot of phonetic phrasing these days. It's not so bad in dialogue (in novels) as it does reflect how a character would sound, but outside of that context it mostly reflects the ignorance of whoever it writing it. 

[Pierre1961]

Yes in French libre and gratuit both mean free in English 

Listening to people in general and on tv and radio often hurts my hears. If I open a 16 th century books,I can understand but with difficulties. That means the languages changes. We can’t do anything. 

In oder to improve my English I like to read Jack Reacher books. More for the vocabulary. But is it considered as really bad English or acceptable? I don’t mean the slang words and the poor quality in term of literature.

Anyway ,easy to read for foreigners 

[SF]

Maybe this will help???     sf

http://www.workableweb.com/_pages/tips_how_to_write_good.htm

[at9]

1 hour ago, SF said:

Maybe this will help???     sf

http://www.workableweb.com/_pages/tips_how_to_write_good.htm

A warning to any civilians who wandered in: That article is satirical. The title tells you that immediately.

[Puffer]

6 hours ago, at9 said:

...

I hate seeing monstrosities like: "She would of gone to the shops". It's a consequence of how you hear:

...

I agree.   And pseudo-words such as 'wanna' and 'gonna' seem to be everywhere - not just (understandably) in informal speech.   My well-educated son often uses them in e-mails to me, and not only (it would seem) because they are shorthand, as he seems to think that they are legitimate words. 

Informality is one thing; changing language usage is understandable too.   But plain sloppiness is not, at least outside the most casual of speech.  ('Yeah, right!')

22 minutes ago, at9 said:

A warning to any civilians who wandered in: That article is satirical. The title tells you that immediately.

A great article!   Satirical or not, it merits close attention.   The piece on 'Covering the news' reminds me of the sub-editor whose draft headline won the prize for attracting the most reader attention, namely: 'Sex-crazed vicar murders royal children's dog for gain' - although perhaps it should have continued '... while drowning MP looks on', or somesuch.   (What other newsworthy elements are missing, if any?)

[Shyheels]

My favourite headline was the New York Post’s “Headless Body In Topless Bar“

Sheer genius....

Edited February 18, 2020 by Shyheels

[at9]

The headline: "Nuts screws washers and bolts" may well be apocryphal.

Writing headlines for tabloid papers is a highly skilled job. Though as Shyheels has found, the "quality" press has its moments too.

[Shyheels]

I worked at a newspaper once where one of the subeditors made a mock-up poster with a grotesque darkly humorous shock-horror headline about a real, on-going high profile trial. He made the poster to take to a party, for a laugh, but left it on the printer. It was then printed up, for real, by the printers and distributed throughout the city. I remember seeing it on a street corner the next morning as I got off the train to come into work and just standing there, dumbfounded. But I was nowhere near as dumbfounded as the chap who did it...

[Puffer]

There was also the competition amongst sub-editors on (I think) 'The Times' requiring them to produce the headline with the least impact.   The winning entry was 'Small earthquake in Chile; not many dead'.

[meganiwish]

6 hours ago, at9 said:

The headline: "Nuts screws washers and bolts" may well be apocryphal.

 

I first encountered this one in the late Simon Hoggart's column in The Observer many years ago.  To counter Puffer's, the same readers' write-in came up with, 'Cyclist Had to Brake', and, 'Eighty-nine Year Old Man Dies Suddenly'.

[Puffer]

And the (almost traditional) space-filler in the local paper for a rural area: 'New bacon-slicer at village shop'.

[mlroseplant]

Been a while for this thread. I thought I would write to say that, after 12 years, it is still an adventure living with a wife whose first language is not English. She sent me to the market for some shallots. Easy enough. When I got back (after de-masking and washing my hands), I told her that I brought her shallots. She thought I said "salad," and started to give me the third degree about getting it wrong. In her mind, the two words sound nearly the same. I can empathize, because the Vietnamese consonant clusters "ch" and "tr" are nearly indistinguishable to me, though to a native speaker, the difference is plain as day. 

[Cali]

You should see how automatic voice-to-text works in Zoom.  The word SETS was translated to ....

[Shyheels]

Back in the days when one could go to the gym, I used to watch Sky News while working out in the cross trainer. The volume was set to silent and a voice to text transcript ran along the bottom of the screen. It was all delightful nonsense. Some of the “reportage” was truly hilarious. On a good day you could figure out the gist of what was (probably) being said. Other days it was total nonsense. 

[RonC]

Ah, yes, closed captioning.  Having a hearing problem myself, I always have the closed captioning set to "on" when I watch TV.  It ranges from ok at times to absurdly funny, to being incomprehensible.  What I find disappointing is the lack of progress in getting it to work properly.  Due to the shelter in place and lack of current sports, I have been watching things that were live broadcasts 15-20 years ago, and I can say without a doubt that the closed captioning is no better now than it was then.

[maninpumps]

One of the things I find rather funny are model instructions . Some of you may have figured out i do a lot of model building . The translations have taught me well . Airfix is a great company for this . Here are just a few of the translations and  pronunciations in the English language I find rather interesting . Some are misspelled intentionally . Chassis UK = Chassie US , Lorrie UK = Truck US , Fuel Bowser UK = Tanker US , Bomb trolly UK = Bomb cart / trailer US . The list goes on and on . This is just a few in English . Throw in Russian , Japanese , Chinese , German , French and Danish . Thank goodness the parts are numbered .  Not to mention color reference , here in the US we have a Federal Standard or FS number the Germans not so much in WWII . . Anyway that's my two cents for the day , please excuse any mistakes in proper grammar .    

[p1ng74]

We have entire words that are used only regionally in the US.  I still have not heard anyone refer to a “bubbler” in real life but I don’t live in the Northeast.  

[at9]

1 hour ago, maninpumps said:

One of the things I find rather funny are model instructions . Some of you may have figured out i do a lot of model building . The translations have taught me well . Airfix is a great company for this . Here are just a few of the translations and  pronunciations in the English language I find rather interesting . Some are misspelled intentionally . Chassis UK = Chassie US , Lorrie UK = Truck US , Fuel Bowser UK = Tanker US , Bomb trolly UK = Bomb cart / trailer US . The list goes on and on . This is just a few in English . Throw in Russian , Japanese , Chinese , German , French and Danish . Thank goodness the parts are numbered .  Not to mention color reference , here in the US we have a Federal Standard or FS number the Germans not so much in WWII . . Anyway that's my two cents for the day , please excuse any mistakes in proper grammar .    

In the UK we say Lorry, not Lorrie. We also say Truck. The words are interchangeable. I've rarely if ever heard the term "Fuel Bowser" in the UK. Tanker is the usual usage.

[Shyheels]

I’ve heard fuel bowser, but then I’m Australian not English

[meganiwish]

9 hours ago, at9 said:

In the UK we say Lorry, not Lorrie. We also say Truck. The words are interchangeable. I've rarely if ever heard the term "Fuel Bowser" in the UK. Tanker is the usual usage.

My feeling is that it's only in recent decades that lorry and truck have quite become interchangeable.  What Farmer Bell drove in Camberwick Green was undoubtedly a truck https://www.google.com/search?q=farmer+bell+camberwick+green&rlz=1C1CHZL_enGB747GB747&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi19-aitMPpAhU4UBUIHUf4AxsQ_AUoAXoECA8QAw&biw=1342&bih=623#imgrc=Yq4IwWqJfiV_wM as was Pop Larkin's in The Darling Buds of May https://www.google.com/search?q=pop+larkin's+truck&rlz=1C1CHZL_enGB747GB747&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwio3MPUtcPpAhVMRxUIHQt2D68Q_AUoAnoECA8QBA&biw=1342&bih=623#imgrc=W0IBEd0xo4Ml4M  I think of a lorry as something used to transport goods.  What do they say in Canada, by the way?  I ask because of this Neil Young song, from After the Gold Rush , I believe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7letrMf_nE

[maninpumps]

22 hours ago, p1ng74 said:

We have entire words that are used only regionally in the US.  I still have not heard anyone refer to a “bubbler” in real life but I don’t live in the Northeast.  

It's a reference to a Bong type glass for smoking pot . I have never heard that word used in the southern region of the United States either . Weed was never my thing however , I grew up with a few stoner's from way back , they always used the term bong . 

Also , here in the United States , "ie"at the end of the word in a name can be changed out with a "y" , Like the name Eddie for instance , one can also spell it Eddy . 

Edited May 21, 2020 by maninpumps

[Cali]

I have never hear the term bubbler either here on the west coast. I can understand why the term is used, but it not a term heard on the West Coast of California.

I thought it something to do with a fish tank.

Edited May 21, 2020 by Cali

[Shyheels]

Well, I grew up in the northeast of the US and I never heard the term bubbler either. I attended quite a hard partying university in the 1970s too. Never heard the term at all, not even once. This thread is the first time I’ve ever come across it

[meganiwish]

18 hours ago, maninpumps said:

 

. 

Also , here in the United States , "ie"at the end of the word in a name can be changed out with a "y" , Like the name Eddie for instance , one can also spell it Eddy . 

In the UK -ie is pretty much firmly a diminutive.  Eddie, short for Edward, or Edwin, in the case of my bro.  Eddy is a whirlpool.  But it's not hard and fast.  'Kiddie' is an interesting one for me.  It's an old Sussex word meaning something like 'bloke', 'chap', 'fellow', with no sense of youth.  I remember it from a chap (kiddie) teaching at Plumpton Agricultural College in 1986.  The story's too long.  But I know a few chaps who still use it, none of them younger than me and all from a very specific part of Hastings.  eg 'You know, that kiddie who does the plastering for John.'  Shyheels lives mere miles from me, but I bet he's never heard it in that sense.  It's a usage dying.

The newest Harper Lee book finally allowed me to understand To Kill a Mockingbird.  We South Saxons have a motto.  Sussex will be Sussex, and Sussex won't be druv.  We have music too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lGxD6cxMKM  I feel so at home to sit by a bandstand and hear Sussex By The Sea.

I don't really mean to digress, but to make a point about regional differences. I believe there's a wealth in the regional, but that the national and international standard needs agreed punctuation and grammar.  Register is all important.  I wouldn't speak Sussex to the Queen.