What are your pet peeves re English usage?

McTag wrote:

As a boy, we read "The Lay of the Last Minstrel"

Tennyson? Can't remember now.

A good lay, if I remember aright.

How are you feeling McT? Like a lay down I bet!

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We hadda read The Lays of Ancient Rome by Macauley . . . kinda irked me, 'cause i'd already read Titus Livius, and wasn't interested in some English joker's purple poetry on the subject . . . anyway, i was no more pleasant as a child than i am as an adult . . .

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Point taken, McT. The word can be a noun. But it's a different word with a different meaning in that context.

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McTag wrote:

As a boy, we read "The Lay of the Last Minstrel"

Tennyson? Can't remember now.

A good lay, if I remember aright.

Dear McTag,

It is by Scott, no?

It is not an interesting poem. Smile

Merry Christmas Smile

Goldmund

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We did the Lay too; Scott. I loathed it, for some reason I can't remember. Lucky he was the last minstrel if I had anything to do with his continuing existence.

I think calling people chairs etc is ludicrous, sounds fatuous. But who am I?

On the serious peeve note though, lay as a verb exercises my mind something horrible.

Why do Americans and uneducated others think that you lay down is acceptable when they recognise and understand the word lie down?

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Thanks for the inferential suggestion that 'Mericans are uneducated, Miss Clary . . .

We were taught that to lay is a transitive verb--i.e., lay the burden down, before one lies down on the bed . . . but you have it any way you please, Miss Clary--it's not my place to spoil your peeve for you .

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Gonna lay down my boiden
Down by the river side
Ain't gonna study war no more

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Goldmund wrote:

McTag wrote:
As a boy, we read "The Lay of the Last Minstrel"

Tennyson? Can't remember now.

A good lay, if I remember aright.

Dear McTag,

It is by Scott, no?

It is not an interesting poem.

Merry Christmas

Goldmund

Scott specialised in turgid prose and bad poetry...but he made money with it!

Merry Christmas to you.

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Setanta wrote:

Thanks for the inferential suggestion that 'Mericans are uneducated, Miss Clary . . .

I intentionally separated those two concepts...

Setanta wrote:

We were taught that to lay is a transitive verb--i.e., lay the burden down, before one lies down on the bed.

...but if that is so, then most Americans ARE uneducated, because they do not use it the way you and I were taught!! You can lay yourself down but not just lay down. Or lay a burden, or egg, or last minstrel, whatever...

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I have never in my life laid a ministrel . . . although one lady did insist she could sing, she was deluding herself . . .

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Glad to hear it. Tralalalala...

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'Murricans who substitute 'lay' for 'lie' do so out of ignorance, not because it is generally accepted in their vernacular. There are ignorant persons of all nationalities and all dialectical persuasions.

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I don't mind it, it's kind of cute. And, it helps us Brits to feel superior.
Only joking really.
I've had most of a bottle of chateau-nifty-pap, hic!

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lucky you, I'm in a near teetotal household it seems, waiting till we start eating before getting stuck into the Chateau bottled

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Hey I'm suffering from an extreme shortage of things to read this Crimbo.
Has anyone got anything good? (overlapping that other thread, I know, but I don't know that lot very well)

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This is probably very petty, but one of my pet peeves is people who leave the "s" off of a person's name. I work with a girl who calls one of our docs Sedaro, when his name is actually "Sedaros" ... I always feel the need to tell her, but it wouldn't do any good!

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On the other hand....I know a person called Child, who habitually gets called "Childs". :wink:

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McTag wrote:

On the other hand....I know a person called Child, who habitually gets called "Childs". :wink:

C'est une question Blanche ou quoi?

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And also, a chap called Mr Andrew who is often adressed as "Mr Andrews". But that's a problem for him, which doesn't exercise me very much.

We don't seem to be able to choose between "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Christmas" as a seasonal wish.
I think they're interchangeable, really, but some folks I know will insist that "merry" goes only with "Christmas", and "happy" should be reserved as an accompaniment to "New Year".

What does the panel think? And, is this scraping the peevish barrel?

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What are your pet peeves re English usage?

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