Am I getting an irritable old git?

I'd just like to emphasise that commas are very important:

Seems to have taken up a territory just outside our living room window.

Rod

Hi Andrew,

If you think that you are the only "Git" out there,think again ! To judge by the bag of worms you opened up,you have serious competition, and I,m glad to see that. I was beginning to think that It was just me,but now I know that I am not alone,I feel better.

Three"Sayings" which really get up my nose are:

A You know what I mean

B I mean to say

C You know where I,m coming from

My response to these is

A No,I dont,why not tell me ?

B Then why not say what you mean ?

C No I dont,where have you been ?

There are so many more,they just go on and on------------

And to listen to people "Hammering out a deal,or having a cast iron agreement,or better still another deal which has been copper fastened,makes me wonder where these people work, You know what I mean like ?

Sill,I suppose it,s better than making swarf on a warm day like this !!

Errors are to be made, commented upon and ultimately forgiven.

A determined effort not to learn, combined with the assumption that this is a good outlook on life is to be treated with utter contempt.

IMHO

I have used some US based forums over the last few years (OK Shame on me, if you must). I have a nasty suspicion that some of the more offensive mangling of the English language seem to originate "over there". The younger folk in the UK seem to ape our American cousins in speech and other things. Maybe this is where some of the worst offending words and contractions come from?

Just looked over the above, to see if I have made any obvious howlers, or shot myself in the foot yet again. Looks correct to me, but I am sure there is a split infinitive or other lurking to catch me out.

Andrew.

Just noticed another travesty on the forum. There instead of They are. Quite a good example I have not seen that one before.

It is either the subject or my laughable errors, that are amusing people. I have never managed to get onto a fourth page of responses before.

Andrew.

I've posted this before from another forum, may be worth posting again.

"If I could just bring this to the attention of ALL members.

As we grow, we have or will have members that are not too good at spelling etc.

This can be for a variety of reasons, education, medical or even dyslexia, which I slightly suffer from, and rely heavily on my spell checker.

This is no ones fault, if everyone was the same, what state would the world be in.

Members who have these afflictions usually have to work at least twice as hard as everyone else to make up a post, and even then, it can sometimes be almost unreadable. But at least they try, which a few 'normal' people won't even do.

So please, before we dive down peoples throats over these issues, spare a thought about the person who has composed it. Either he/she couldn't or can't make it any clearer or better, or has made a genuine mistake.

Thanks"

Well posted Jason, I have a sister that struggles with writing but she tries and can always get the point across.

I can honestly say that whenever I have asked for help or advice, I have received it without critisism of my many English language mistakes, and I am most grateful.

Long may the spirit of engineering camaraderie continue.

Well I would concede that we all get it wrong sometimes. My grammar is not perfect.

But "Lathing"? I think we can all agree on that one!

I'm not so sure. Unlike for example milling, shaping, sawing, grinding, or planing, turning is one of the only processes which does not contain any reference to the tool involved. (All right, I will make an exception for watchmaker's turns, but they are pretty niche). if my son's school was anything to go by, it is now possible to leave without ever seeing a lathe or having heard of turning, so they will have no more idea of a turner's trade than that of a cordwainer, a currier, or a loriner.

It could be worse, given the number of country crafts fairs, rural life centres etc. that have sprung up, the only turning that many youngsters will have seen is on a pole lathe, so they may think that we should be called bodgers

Brian

One saying that irks is " give me a bell " since when have phones had bells? why not just say call me.

The word 'lathe' is itself a change of language over time. Strictly speaking the lathe is the stand, not the spindle. What we call a lathe began as the turns, hence Turner. It's interesting that Turns were usually worked by a bow, and another word for bow is 'lath', which term survives on crossbows. There may be a similar connection to the pole lathe, which I suspect originally referred to the bendy thin rod that drove the turns.

Possibly erudite gentlemen in the 17th century wrote to each other in Latin complaining bitterly about rough artisans corrupting the vernacular with their dreadful trade jargon. Bastard files indeed!

As to Americanisms, it's all been downhill since they hooked us on potato...

Actually, I quite like the word lathing, in relation to our hobby. But unfortunately it is already taken. It means "to cover in wooden strips" (ie laths) . Whole different thing from making swarf.

While we have our resident English experts here, should that be different from, different to, of different than?

Some just say differenter.

Ian S C

Nevertheless: 'From', 'To' or 'Than'?

Of course it could be more than one, as in: "12mm is differenter from 1/2" than 13mm".

I thought it was a forum etiquette to not criticise other members spelling and grammar. A general discussion on common mistakes and usage is ok I would think but direct criticism of a members jottings is bad form.

Mike

As somebody who’s english usage is not at all good (no I’m not proud of that), I find a discussion which started as a miss titled thread on this Model Engineering forum pretty pointless.

Back to the Workshops chaps you can go and make some more High Horses.

I dread to think what people stumbling upon this forum via a Search Engine might think of Model Engineers and the hobby, not exactly encouraging IMHO.

Rant over!

Edited By V8Eng on 03/07/2018 12:50:44

Edited By V8Eng on 03/07/2018 12:51:20

Quite right! The forum is after all a form of chatting, albeit in written format, so applying the rules of formal written English is almost certainly overkill.

An old English linguistics professor once told me that you should never criticize or correct the way someone speaks, unless you are married to them -- and want a divorce.

I think you find the same kind of thread on many a special interest forum. And written language is only one of the subjects for zealotry.

Jason is quite right about not criticising individual's mistakes. Because I make them myself!

I have no intention of criticising mistakes per se, it is the common usage of say my initial pet hate, ill instead of I will. This seems to have entered the English lexicon as a genuine word, NOT as a mistaken spelling. I see it all over the place, both in the US and UK.

It is travesties like this that make me irritable, not genuine mistakes by those that are for whatever reason, challenged by spelling and language.

Andrew.