On Oct 6, 11:10 am, Jonathan Stott wrote:
Dave Cornwell wrote:
I can't think how to relate this to the weather other than we all listen to
BBC presenters. I find it annoying to hear expressions such as "Gordon Brown
may be accused of bottling it if he doesn't call an election". It's the use
of "bottling it" I object to. Shouldn't it be "having second thoughts" or
"becoming apprehensive". Come to that it's like the frequent press use of
the trivialising new verb "to glass" someone". Shouldn't that be "thrust a
broken glass into someone's face maiming them for life". Am I becoming a
snob or a grumpy old man? Probably, yes!!
What's wrong with new words when they succinctly convey their meaning?
One of the great things about the English language is the way it evolves
so organically.
--
Jonathan Stott
Canterbury Weather:http://www.canterburyweather.co.uk/
Reverse my e-mail address to reply by e-mail
The problem here is not the words themselves, which are
quite graphic, but the fact that they are colloquialisms and therefore
inappropriate at certain times, just as the first and only rule of
effing and blinding is knowing when not to.
I shouldn't get too starry-eyed about the evolution of
English. Much of it is due to misunderstanding and misuse by the
uneducated, resulting in words changing their meaning. Quite often
this doesn't matter but sometimes it does, for example with "alibi",
until recently meaning specifically "elsewhere" but now can mean any
old excuse. Another one from our own field is "haze", now apparently
Ci or light Sc as opposed to suspended smoke or dust particles. This
one, unbelievably, was initiated by those dimwits at BBC Weather and
seems to be increasingly accepted even in this place, despite the
blatant loss of precision its use implies.
Words can be powerful. Ask any communist, capitalist,
feminist, racist, anti-racist or marketing gobbledegook-monger. We
should take a little more care of our language. The stricter rules
governing the use of many foreign languages have their uses
sometimes. Don't tell me that French and German, for example, are not
expressive languages - we have adopted many of their phrases.
Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, Surrey.