Monday 7 February 2011

For three things and four...

This is not a grumble, you understand. Just some observations!

Why do broadcasters (eg. on BBC Radio 5 Live) say, "See you same time tomorrow", or "in 14 minutes", in the case of a recent trailer? No, you won't, Mr Campbell, Mr Livesey. That's just stupid. You won't see us. We might hear you. You could say, "I'll be back...," or, if you insist in being more chatty, "Till tomorrow, same time." We need an equivalent of the German "Auf wiederhören".

Why do some radio forecasters emphasise odd unimportant words? "Winds gusting TO forty miles an hour in the South AND West..."

And why do so many journalists persist in demonstrating their paucity of vocabulary by using the word "iconic" - even after I mentioned it before on this blog? I was once told that people used bad language because they were too lazy to find a more vivid or accurate word. I'm inclined to think that "iconic" is the new swear word. "That's an iconic Torres goal!"

I suppose I'd better mention the Top Gear Mexican fiasco. Not that I watched it. I must say I have to agree with Steve Coogan's verdict on the lads' uncouth racial insults. 'There is a strong ethical dimension to the best comedy. Not only does it avoid reinforcing prejudices, it actively challenges them. Put simply, in comedy, as in life, we ought to think before we speak. This wasn't one of those occasions. In fact, the comments were about as funny as a cold sweat followed by shooting pains down the left arm. In fact, if I can borrow from the Wildean wit of Richard Hammond, the comic approach was "lazy", "feckless" and "flatulent".' Steve Coogan on Top Gear

Talking of cars, which Top Gear is supposed to be about, I see I could get some shares in our local Formula 1 team, Williams F1, on 2nd March. I'm not sure how good a short-term investment it would be, but at some point it must come good, surely...?

4 comments:

  1. Oh dear - what did you have for supper? My pet hate is the mis-use of "of both" when they mean "both of". No wonder my long-suffering wife (and I mean LONG-suffering) gets cross when I "quibble". Best love (a friend of mine used to end his messages like that and I wondered to what degree I had attained - ouch...)

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  2. Written before supper! Must have been the hunger-pangs. Standards must be maintained. Hold your ground. Bests!

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  3. My hate is the phrase "gob smacked" - it makes me shudder that seemingly fairly intelligent people have to constantly use this phrase when there are plenty of other phrases or words in the English language that can be used.

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  4. 'it's doing my head in' always makes me cringe

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