Tudor Hughes wrote:

On Mar 28, 11:50*am, "Norman" normanthis...@thisbitweather-
consultancy.com wrote:
Martin Rowley wrote:

The one that really irritates me is "lightening" for
"lightning". Will (meteorologist and speller)

... it used to annoy me, until I started reading some old texts
where the word was used all the time to describe the phenomenon.
Then looking it up in the "Oxford Dictionary of English
Etymology", it has this against 'lightning':

" discharge of electricity between groups of cloud .. Special use
of 'lightening' *(etc.)". Apparently has roots in Middle English.

Obviously in modern usage, it is a mis-spelling, but perhaps not
quite a 'hanging offence'!

Martin.

Totally OT but 3 that really irritate me a

1.
Use of "less" when it should be "fewer" and vice versa.

2.
Use of "underestimate" when it should be "overestimate" and vice
versa (a very common error made by TV and radio news reporters
these days).

3.
Use of "would of" instead of "would've" (short for "would have").

I now anticipate wholesale criticism of the grammar in my postings
:-)

Norman
--
Norman Lynagh
Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire
85m a.s.l.
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Does this mean that you will fortify yourself with a large
brandy when you next look at this newsgroup, to insulate yourself from
the effects of the abusive deluge because "anticipate" means to take
action in the expectation of something, eg taking an umbrella when
it's not actually raining but you think it will. It doesn't mean
merely "expect". I dunno, man of your calibre, as Hancock would have
said.

Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, Surrey


An Islay malt is more my style but I take you point, Tudor :-)


Norman
--
Norman Lynagh
Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire
85m a.s.l.
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