What are your pet peeves re English usage?

@Thomas,

Otto Frewhedder invented the first mechanical bread slicer in the 1920's. This invention made the possibility of the AMerican favorite, THE PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY SAMWICH. This was a breakthrough in food technology .

Otto was one of yours it appears.

Oh, it appears that Walter already posted this factoid, NEVER MIND!

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@Walter Hinteler,

So, Otto is the best thing since . . .

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@farmerman,

Quote:

Otto Frewhedder invented the first mechanical bread slicer in the 1920's.

The farmer has obviously never heard of maidservants.

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@spendius,

spendius wrote:

Quote:
Otto Frewhedder invented the first mechanical bread slicer in the 1920's.

The farmer has obviously never heard of maidservants.

R thay "mechanical" ?

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It was in the UK (Chorleywood, quite near here) that the process of producing bread which is guaranteed to remove all pleasant taste was invented.

The Chorleywood Process (google it if you don't believe me) is a mass-production process which uses steam instead of ovens to bake the loaves.

And it's used almost universally for the cheaper brands of bread here. So you have to shop around a bit if you like nice bread, as I do.

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@McTag,

Since it ended yesterday, perhaps you'll notice some changes soon Wink

Quote:

Diploma in German Baking
6 weeks hands-on programme
In-depth knowledge, Lectures in English
Date: 25. January to 4. March 2010

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@McTag,

McTag wrote:

..
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/03/david-mitchell-english-language-grammar
It's quite good. David Mitchell is one of our rising smartarses.

Having every confidence in your recommendation I read the article carefully and found this construct striking:

Quote:

To have achieved the double of both promoting their product and amusing people - ....

If you'd like to assist the author's journalistic ascent you might usefully direct him to this forum - posters here tend to insert some word (such as "aim", or "purpose", for instance) between "double" and "of" Smile

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@High Seas,

It might be the normal betting usage HS.

I think it's OK.

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@spendius,

Ah, that would certainly clear it up - thank you.

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@High Seas,

Only the British ones, High Seas, Americans wouldn't mention anything about achieving the double (insert 'purpose' 'aim' 'blah, blah') unless they have lived their lives without ever hearing of baseball.

They might say "hitting a double, both promoting their product and amusing people - ....", any other usage would sound somehow off key.

~~
Thomas: Next visit to the city, a trip up the hill to Gideon's. Fresh baked bread every few hours, unsliced or sliced as you like.
~~~
Once I asked a friend how his first date with another friend had gone. He said "I hit a double to deep centerfield."

Joe(I bought us a round.)Nation

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Joe, now the question is, is that the same thing as "getting to second base"?

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@Joe Nation,

Additional thanks due to you both, Joe and Jack - though subject to the "rising" auteur's cautious warning on the dangers involved:

Quote:

But when language changes, slang becomes correct, mispunctuation is overlooked and American spellings adopted,

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@High Seas,

To be clear HS I was referring to a double bet. Two horses in separate races say. The aim is implicit.

In a double bet any winnings plus the stake go on the second leg of the bet. If either horse loses the whole bet is lost.

On reflection I think the usage is stylish as it points to the writer being a betting man without him actually having said so. Which is an efficient use of language.

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@OmSigDAVID,

Quote:

R thay "mechanical" ?

Yes--according to the Cartesian and La Mettrian materialist perspective which farmerman accepts, with only a few minor quibbles, through the gates of which I am fond of driving my coach and four.

Stendhal refers to "her machine" in the scene where the fresh-faced young dragoon asks the veteran how to proceed with the wives of the local worthies in the town to which he has been posted.

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@High Seas,

To say you achieved "the double" or even The Double or The Treble is quite common in British parlance, referring to sporting trophies and by extension, any other double or triple success.

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@McTag,

And a "double-header" is when two steam engines are coupled together to pull a heavy load up an incline in the track.

(Witty eh Mac?)

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This is petty, I know, but it grates whenever I hear someone mispronounce 'jewelry'. It happened again last night...a jeweler, no less, said 'jewlery'. Grrr lol.

As long as I'm being petty, another one is 'realtor'; many times pronounced 'realator'. Oof....so wrong lol.

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@spendius,

Quote:

@McTag,

And a "double-header" is when two steam engines are coupled together to pull a heavy load up an incline in the track.

(Witty eh Mac?)

I never quite know what sort of stroke you are attempting to pull, Spendy.

Maybe some kind of sexual innuendo. But to the pure, all things are pure.

I was just trying to help High Seas out a little (although someone else, maybe yourself, had done it first. No, you were talking about wagers. The other answer was better.)

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@High Seas,

Quote:

Additional thanks due to you both, Joe and Jack - though subject to the "rising" auteur's cautious warning on the dangers involved:

Quote:
But when language changes, slang becomes correct, mispunctuation is overlooked and American spellings adopted,

And that kind of thing is of course to be avoided at all costs.

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Slyly adopting this thread to hopefully get a wider audience...

In the Doonesbury cartoon I saw the word "pose" used like this:

"Your brain needs a pose"

Do Americans really use "pose" when we would write "pause"?

Shocked

2 Replies

What are your pet peeves re English usage?

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