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What are your pet peeves re English usage?

Forums: English, Grammar, Abusage, Pet Peeves, English Usage
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Merry Andrew
 
  1  
Reply Wed 18 Apr, 2007 06:34 am
Ahhh...sorry, I misunderstood the thrust of your post. Mea culpa.
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Roberta
 
  1  
Reply Wed 18 Apr, 2007 06:44 am
All is forgiven, Andy.

I was jumping in to what had preceded. Idiotic language usage in news reporting.
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Merry Andrew
 
  1  
Reply Wed 18 Apr, 2007 09:04 am
Well...'Breaking news' is an old and accepted piece of journalistic jargon. It's used to mean that a brand new story, something that just came to light or is happening even as we speak, is coming in. It pre-dates TV reporting by at least a couple of decades or more. Used to be heard only in newsrooms. Now it's in the public domain.
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McTag
 
  1  
Reply Wed 18 Apr, 2007 09:55 am
Roberta wrote:
I'm about hyped out. 24/7 news is too much. I knew it was time to turn off the tv when I saw:

BREAKING NEWS:

Authorities have not yet revealed the identity of the shooter.


In the very early days of BBC news broadcasts, I believe they once reported "There is no news today".

Wouldn't that be a refreshing change?

Another time, a newspaper- possibly of the same vintage- had a Stop Press report: "Fog in Channel. Europe cut off"
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Clary
 
  1  
Reply Wed 18 Apr, 2007 12:16 pm
I agree, isn't it funny how the news always exactly fits the slot made for it?
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Mame
 
  1  
Reply Wed 18 Apr, 2007 02:36 pm
Speaking of news, isn't it funny when newscasters have to ad-lib and just repeat themselves?
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Merry Andrew
 
  1  
Reply Wed 18 Apr, 2007 04:12 pm
McTag wrote:

In the very early days of BBC news broadcasts, I believe they once reported "There is no news today".

Wouldn't that be a refreshing change.


In the interests of proper grammar, shouldn't that be "There are no news today"? Smile Smile Smile
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Roberta
 
  1  
Reply Wed 18 Apr, 2007 05:52 pm
Merry Andrew wrote:
Well...'Breaking news' is an old and accepted piece of journalistic jargon. It's used to mean that a brand new story, something that just came to light or is happening even as we speak, is coming in. It pre-dates TV reporting by at least a couple of decades or more. Used to be heard only in newsrooms. Now it's in the public domain.



That's what I understood breaking news to mean. The report presented as breaking news was the same report that had been reported all day. Not breaking news. Worse still that what they were saying was that they didn't have anything to report.
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Merry Andrew
 
  1  
Reply Wed 18 Apr, 2007 09:50 pm
Know whatcha mean, 'Boita. They'll break the same news over and over again all day, hoping no one will notice. It's even more annoying when they run the exact same video or audio clip they ran just half an hour ago.
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McTag
 
  1  
Reply Thu 19 Apr, 2007 02:55 am
Merry Andrew wrote:
McTag wrote:

In the very early days of BBC news broadcasts, I believe they once reported "There is no news today".

Wouldn't that be a refreshing change.


In the interests of proper grammar, shouldn't that be "There are no news today"? Smile Smile Smile


I think not. News is singular in this neck of the woods at least.

BBC announcers used to wear evening dress to read the news, yes even in the radio days:

"Here is the news, and this is Alvar Liddell reading it." A byegone age.
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Steve 41oo
 
  1  
Reply Thu 19 Apr, 2007 04:12 am
News is singular, but newses are not.
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Roberta
 
  1  
Reply Thu 19 Apr, 2007 04:18 am
What about newsi?
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Joe Nation
 
  1  
Reply Thu 19 Apr, 2007 04:37 am
Newsie is a noun and it"s singular.

Joe(because they can't get dates)Nation
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Roberta
 
  1  
Reply Thu 19 Apr, 2007 04:42 am
Joe, Newsie is a noun? I thought it was an adjective. Or is it the feminine version of the plural noun newsi?
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Merry Andrew
 
  1  
Reply Thu 19 Apr, 2007 05:49 am
I'm sorry I started this. My bad.
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Roberta
 
  1  
Reply Thu 19 Apr, 2007 05:59 am
Okay, kid. I'm changing the subject. I heard someone in an interview last night refer to mental insanity.
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Merry Andrew
 
  1  
Reply Thu 19 Apr, 2007 06:01 am
Roberta wrote:
Okay, kid. I'm changing the subject. I heard someone in an interview last night refer to mental insanity.


As opposed to. . .?


[Someone once said, "You came here under false pretenses." The other man answered, "What other kind are there?"]
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Roberta
 
  1  
Reply Thu 19 Apr, 2007 06:03 am
That's what I was wondering, Andy.
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McTag
 
  1  
Reply Thu 19 Apr, 2007 07:05 am
Yes, mental insanity. When I was a lad, invalids used to be conveyed to hospital in an ambulance. If you were bad, you were driven there. If you could walk, you walked or went on the bus.

Now they have things called "emergency ambulances". WTF? If it ain't broke, I say don't fix it.
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Clary
 
  1  
Reply Thu 19 Apr, 2007 09:54 am
Speaking of tautology, survival of the fittest means survival of those who survive.
0 Replies
 
 

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